Why Arne Engels could be the missing piece in the jigsaw for West Ham United this season

[p]Having kept hold of the likes of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bowen-jarrod/pW170H9K/"]Jarrod Bowen[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/soucek-tomas/8zWzYFRF/"]Tomas Soucek[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/castellanos-valentin/ET4rsqIP/"]Taty Castellanos[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mavropanos-konstantinos/zBXgM0Xa/"]Dinos Mavropanos[/a] amongst others, the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/west-ham/Cxq57r8g/"]Hammers[/a] have one of the stronger squads in the division, and there will be huge expectations on the East Londoners to go straight back up to the Premier League at the first attempt.[/p][infobox id="c5ce5f5a-ccb6-468f-9fce-bb4a330c372a" /][h2]Boardroom upheaval [/h2][p]Over 50,000 reported season ticket renewals from their loyal supporters suggest that they too believe this season could be a special one for the club.[/p][p]What's going on in the boardroom at present can't be swept aside, though, as the knock-on effect of Amanda Staveley and PCP Capital Partners' attempt to buy Jaqueline Gold's shares, and potentially David Sullivan's, could disrupt things behind the scenes more than is necessary.[/p][embed guid="32c95451-f16e-469b-bdac-e14b7549b998" url="https://x.com/henrywinter/status/2083790241987514522" social-type="twitter" /][p]With current major shareholder Daniel Kretinsky looking to have things on an even keel, and, importantly, the Hammers faithful behind his attempts to move the club forward, the next few weeks might well be problematic for the club off the pitch.[/p][p]However, as long as the players are doing the business on it, boardroom chaos will likely not be given too much attention by the masses.[/p][h2]Arne Engels fee agreed[/h2][p]Rather, the supporters would want to see improvement on the playing side, and that's been lacking in the current window.[/p][p]Only [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/veltman-joel/hIP2ytZb/"]Joel Veltman[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/solomon-manor/v5LRVtuB/"]Manor Solomon[/a] have been signed so far, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lamadrid-keiber-alberto/4jWWn5Ch/"]Kieber Lamadrid[/a]'s loan move being made permanent. Hardly the sort of signings to get the fanbase excited, with respect.[/p][embed guid="3558d281-b419-4502-9c8b-d2ab124bda06" url="https://x.com/CelticFC/status/2086419780584497283" social-type="twitter" /][p]Reports also note that another new face could soon be walking through the doors of the Irons' Rush Green training ground, in the form of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/celtic/QFKRRD8M/"]Celtic[/a]'s Belgian midfielder, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/engels-arne/K4dXXq9J/"]Arne Engels[/a], with a medical due imminently thanks to an agreement between both clubs for £22m.[/p][p]At 22 years of age, Engels has already made 100 appearances for the Scottish giants and has also recently broken into the senior Belgian national team.[/p][h2]The replacement for Mateus Fernandes?[/h2][p]Not yet the finished article, he could still provide some much-needed bite and dynamism in the midfield, and might well be seen as the replacement for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fernandes-mateus/rFdshPHI/"]Mateus Fernandes[/a], who recently signed for London rivals [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/tottenham/UDg08Ohm/"]Tottenham Hotspur[/a].[/p][p]During Celtic's 2025/26 campaign, Engels produced an impressive tally of six goals and eight assists in 44 appearances in all competitions, which included both the Champions League and Europa League.[/p][embed guid="c07b5884-2bc0-46bd-b463-23167c78ade0" url="https://x.com/SpursOfficial/status/2072607666313019409?lang=en" social-type="twitter" /][p]It's that elite-level pedigree that should see the player seamlessly slot into Nuno Espirito Santo's set-up and add something extra.[/p][p]One area of Engels' game that will delight both teammates and supporters is his physicality. At over six feet, he is difficult to shake off the ball, and he's shown that he's not frightened of putting his foot in when he needs to, as 13 yellow cards in two seasons would attest.[/p][h2]Brilliance at both ends of the pitch[/h2][p]In a league such as the English Championship, where silky skills often come second to the ability to fight and grind out a result, that side of the midfielder's game can't be overlooked.[/p][p]Fortunately, the other parts of his game are perfectly complementary to that which Nuno already has in his squad, and to have a box-to-box midfielder added to the mix could make the Hammers very hard to play against indeed.[/p][p]Last season, on average, Engels not only won approximately three one-on-one ground duels per game, but he also averaged three ball recoveries and two successful tackles per match.[/p][image alt="Arne Engels stats" id="630c16af-cf12-4f9b-a5b3-a960b4e90ad6" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="e23a16ba-3cd1-4ad8-a277-1befd44305dd" original-width="2160" original-height="2702" /][p]At the opposite end of the pitch, almost two chances created every game, three touches in the opposition box and at least one shot at goal evidence the amount of work that the player gets through during 90 minutes.[/p][p]If he's anywhere close to fan favourite Fernandes in terms of his application, he'll quickly become a player that supporters warm to.[/p][p]At a quarter of the price that the Portuguese was sold to Spurs for, too, Engels could well prove to be one of the bargains of the summer window, and the missing piece in the Hammers' jigsaw.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/news/transfer-news-live-tracker-updates/8QqUWm3n/"]Follow all the latest transfer news LIVE this summer![/a][/b][/p][infobox id="8a8311c3-81b3-440e-8b49-36091db073d1" /]