O'Neill Opens Up on Celtic Transfer Issues

Transfer chat dominated the media conference with Martin O’Neill today.

A preview of Monday’s match against Dundee was the intention but at Celtic the match preview is usually open door to discuss other issues.

Today the timing was epic.

Fresh from Wednesday’s night news on Everton’s interest in Alistair Johnston there was another twist this morning.

Firstly from Italy then In The Know Anthony Joseph it became clear that Arne Engels was a transfer target for West Ham.

Later, at lunchtime Florian Plettenberg claimed that Engels had verbally agreed to move to West Ham. Two years ago Plettenberg very accurately chronicled Celtic signing Engels from Augsburg.

When he tweets it isn’t an attention seeking flyer. Plettenberg knows his stuff.

Last Saturday Celtic sold Daizen Maeda to Ipswich. A huge loss to overcome.

If Engels and Johnston are also on their way out the rebuild required becomes almost impossible. Or just impossible when transfer business is driven by Michael Nicholson.

THE BIG CELTIC SELL OFF

Since winning in the Champions League against YB Bern in January 2025 the Celtic CEO has been desperately weakening the squad. He sold Kyogo Furuhashi, Nicolas Kuhn and Adam Idah during 2025, replaced by Shin Yamada.

Kasper Schmeichel has retired. Selling Maeda, Johnston and Engels wouldn’t simply amplify Nicholson’s wrecking streak on the squad. Or the sellable assets as the Celtic CEO would put it.

O’Neill was put up as the club spokesman today. He has no authority. His job is to manage the players he has. Recently he expressed his trust in Dermot Desmond to get things over the line. Or the owner as O’Neill refers to the 34% shareholder.

1- What’s the latest on Arne Engels, West Ham reported to be chasing him, what can you tell us?

West Ham, yeah, I think there’s definitely truth in that. I think there’s been something put in that hasn’t remotely made our evaluation for a start.

And the same with Alistair Johnston, Everton have been in contact. And I’m not sure whether there’s been a bid in there for that one, but they’ve been in contact saying that they would be.

In fairness, David Moyes did call me last week and say that there would be contact.

But I don’t know how far that has progressed, if it has at all. But yeah, that would be disappointing obviously but I suppose it’s to be expected, you know, players who have done well.

We turned down a big offer in January from Nottingham Forest. They came in at the very last minute, so we couldn’t do anything. Arne was alright with it, you know.

But it’s difficult to stop people if their ambition is to play in a big, big league. West Ham have been relegated, but obviously enhance their financial situation. Those things are difficult.

Our job is to try and keep them, try and do our best to keep them. If that’s not possible, naturally we’ll have to try and get replacements in. To replace those players would be a difficult task.

2- Does that feel like quite a daunting challenge? Because so much of the talk this summer has been about Celtic adding to what you’ve got anyway?

Yes, I think I took that into consideration.

Because I thought at the back end of last season, whether I was going to be here or not. I felt that something would happen with some of our top players, you know. And that would be difficult for anybody stepping in.

So I’ve taken that into the equation, you know. Naturally our thing is to try and add to the squad quality as much as anything else. And I think that’s what we’ve done with the two players so far.

But then at the other end, you’re trying to balance it out. Like people are potentially leaving. If any of the players that I thought I wanted to keep at the football club were then going to stay., that would be a great bonus for us.

3- Martin, you say there you thought some players would leave. Are there plans in place if Arne does leave and if Alistair does leave? Has that been discussed?

Well, yeah. There’s the two elements to it. One, that we did want to build this squad and bring players in anyway. Whether they, hopefully, would have stayed at the football club.

Alistair did an excellent World Cup with Canada. And that enhanced his chances, naturally. But I think you have to try and do your best to balance everything.

Try and get new players in. Try and hold the players that you have. At the same time, that’s utopia. Unfortunately, that’s not real life.

O’Neill suggested that Johnston and Engels are in his plans for Monday’s match at home to Dundee. The team sheet will be interesting.

As It Stands the Staring XI is impressive. Two new strikers can’t be ignored, costing more than £15m. But on the bench the drop in quality is worrying.

THE CELTIC FIRST TEAM SQUAD GOING FORWARD

Reo Hatate and Paulo Bernardo working their way out the matchday squad at the end of last season.

James Forrest and Tony Ralston know the drill, they can be relied on.

O’Neill needs quality for the Starting XI and quantity for the bench.

More than two months on from winning the Scottish Cup Final the pace of signings is concerning.

The fixtures start on Monday. A Champions League Play Off is just over a fortnight away.

Celtic are ill-prepared for the season ahead. If Engels and Johnston are sold with replacements on a par with recent transfer windows the alarm bells will be ringing.

Supporters have watched nervously another car crash of a summer transfer window.

Nicholson, Desmond and Chris McKay look as if they are about to apply the accelerator.

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1 Comment

by BJF
Posted July 31, 2026 10:01 pm 0Likes
To all intents and purposes DD is the owner, if he isn’t who is. Who makes the key decisions who has the final say.
I would worry if we tried to keep AJ against his wishes that rarely seems to work out. Our defence is stable though if AJ goes we will need an alternative.
Midfield will be a lot weaker without Engels, major recruitment issue. Up front I like the two new guys. We will bring pace and directness up front.