Celtic’s new head coach Wilfried Nancy will already have plenty on his plate in the coming weeks after taking over the club midway through the season, in the midst of a Scottish Premiership title race.
Aside from the obvious objectives, which include making it to the next stage of the Europa League, winning the league title, and winning the two domestic cups, the French boss also needs to develop players.
One player who desperately needs to kick on after an underwhelming start to the 2025/26 campaign is central midfielder Arne Engels, who must show his quality under the new boss.
Why Nancy needs to get more out of Engels for Celtic
Celtic splashed out a club-record fee of £11m to sign the central midfielder from Augsburg in the summer of 2024 under Brendan Rodgers, and he enjoyed a strong first season at Parkhead.
Engels delivered ten goals and 13 assists in 52 appearances in all competitions for the Hoops in his debut season, per Transfermarkt, yet he has only managed two goals and four assists in 23 games in the current campaign.
This shows that the Belgium international needs to improve his performances under Nancy to prove that he was worth the £11m that the club paid for him last year, and to attract interest from other clubs to potentially be sold for a profit in the future.
Whilst Celtic’s club-record signing is yet to raise his value at Parkhead, there is a former Hoops talent who is now valued at even more than Engels.
The former Celtic star who is now worth £20m
In the summer of 2024, Rocco Vata, despite the club’s and Rodgers’ attempts to keep him, decided to leave at the end of his contract to sign for Championship side Watford.
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The Premiership champions raked in a compensation fee of £225k for the Ireland international, who came through the ranks at Parkhead, and he is now worth a staggering £20m 18 months on from that move.
At the end of November, the Daily Mail reported that Crystal Palace, Fulham, Atalanta, and Eintracht Frankfurt are all interested in signing the Irishman, who is valued at £20m by the Hornets, ahead of the January transfer window.
Vata’s journey gives off shades of Ben Doak. The winger left Celtic to join Liverpool for a compensation fee of £600k in 2022 and was sold to Bournemouth for £25m in 2025, after making just two first-team appearances for the Hoops.
The 20-year-old talent, Vata, has provided six goals and six assists in 47 games for Watford, per Transfermarkt, and his impressive play on the left wing has clearly attracted interest from some big clubs across Europe’s major leagues.
Vata was described as a “potential superstar” by analyst and Watford content creator Louorns on X last year, which now looks like a terrific take when you consider the clubs interested in him and the valuation on his head at the age of just 20.
|
Rocco Vata’s senior Celtic career |
|
|---|---|
|
Opposition |
Minutes |
|
Hibernian |
6 |
|
Ross County |
1 |
|
Kilmarnock |
22 |
|
Motherwell |
11 |
|
Aberdeen |
3 |
|
Buckie Thistle |
26 |
|
Stats via Transfermarkt |
|
Yet, as you can see in the table above, the versatile attacker barely got a look-in during his time at Celtic, with zero starts in his six first-team appearances for the club.
It is easy to say with hindsight, but Celtic should have offered him more chances on the pitch at first-team level to show the talented youngster that there is a pathway to regular football at Parkhead.
Perhaps Colby Donovan’s emergence, with 516 minutes under his belt this season, is an example of them having learned from their mistake with Vata last year and with Doak in 2022.
Now, Vata is shining in England with Watford, with 12 goal contributions since the start of last season, and could seal a £20m move away from the club in January if any of the aforementioned interested parties are willing to seriously pursue a deal.
This shows the kind of value that can be generated by simply giving young players an opportunity to shine, as Watford have done with Vata, as he is now valued at more than Celtic’s club-record signing, Engels, was signed for.
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Hopefully, Donovan’s emergence this season is a sign that Celtic have learned from their mistakes with Vata and Doak and will be able to keep hold of their emerging talents in the future, instead of losing them for compensation fees.