THE elegant Arne Engels delivered another first-class performance as he eased his way through 68 minutes of the 4-0 win over St Johnstone at Parkhead yesterday.
Impatient fans who were too fast to question his £11million transfer tag after his deadline-day arrival from Bundesliga side Augsburg have been silenced in their hasty criticisms as the playmaker settles into his new surroundings.
Engels, who will now most assuredly get his first unique experience of Ibrox on Thursday, utilised the entire pitch against the ragged Perth club who saw their stubborn assistance overcome on the half-hour mark when Nicolas Kuhn rifled in the opener and Kyogo Furuhashi, with a double, and Daizen Maeda added the others after the turnaround.
The 21-year-old Belgium international set up Kyogo’s second strike with a peach of a pass in from the right that just required the finishing touch as the prolific hitman didn’t fail smack in front of Josh Rae’s goal.
THREE CHEERS…Arne Engels and Alistair Johnston congratulate Kyogo Furuhashi after the third goal in the 4-0 win over St Johnstone.
After strutting his stuff throughout his appearance, Engels made way for captain Callum McGregor who had been given a well-deserved breather by Brendan Rodgers ahead of the derby encounter.
It was smiles all round the east end of Glasgow at the final whistle after news eventually filtered through from Fir Park that Philippe Clement’s strugglers had drawn 2-2 against Motherwell at Fir Park after 11 minutes of stoppage-time.
The champions are 14 points ahead as they make the journey across the Clyde for the all-Glasgow affair and Engels is looking forward to his baptism in Govan where there won’t be a Celtic fan in sight.
The club’s record buy reflected on the performance over the Perth Saints and said: “I think it was amazing. The gaffer told us to finish the year really well and that’s what we did from minute one.
“We showed that we are ready for the game and we took it in our own hands.
“We finished really well – and congratulations to Kyogo for the two goals! Everyone is really happy.”
Engels, speaking to Celtic TV, added: “It’s been busy, with a lot of games.
“We keep on going every three days right now.
“It’s up to us to keep this level and to keep it going. It has been really lovely, actually.”
