Kevin De Bruyne sends message to £11m Celtic player

International breaks can often be boring for club football fans. They don’t have their regular routine of watching their side play at the weekends and sometimes in midweek too. But it’s quite different for the manager and his squad of players. At Celtic, Brendan Rodgers will be hoping that his players away on national team duty can avoid injury. Seeing both Alistair Johnson and Adam Idah leave the pitch early will cause him some worry for sure.

The players also see international duty differently. It can be an exciting time, especially if you are new to playing for your national team and getting a thumbs up from your captain must feel fantastic.

That’s the case with Arne Engels who made his full Belgian national team debut recently. He had barely had time to settle in Glasgow after his record move to Celtic before he joined up with Domenico Tedesco and his squad.

Engels made his second debut appearance as a substitute in a week. He came on as a second-half substitute for Youri Tielemans.

Kevin De Bruyne sends message to £11m Celtic player

His first came a week ago for Celtic in the 3-0 win over the Rangers at Parkhead. On his Belgium debut, he only had nine touches of the ball after coming on in the 74th minute but did enough to get some recognition from Kevin De Bruyne. 

The Belgian captain was pleased to see Engels get his international chance alongside fellow debutant Julien Duranville of Borussia Dortmund. As reported by the Daily Record, De Bruyne said in his post-match interview:

"Julien wasn't afraid to show his talents, and that's already very positive what he showed tonight. And Arne (Engels) also made a very good substitution."

It’s early days obviously for Engels at Celtic, and for Belgium as well. Although this was his first top-level appearance, he has featured for his country at all other levels. He will have to wait a little longer for his second Belgian cap, due to a suspension picked up in U21 matches.