ARNE ENGELS has revealed he is not interested in transfer talk as he concentrates fully on tomorrow’s Hampden meeting with Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup Final.
The gifted midfielder became Celtic’s most expensive player in history when he arrived on August deadline day in a £11million switch from Bundesliga outfit Augsburg.
Now, after just nine months at Parkhead, the 21-year-old Belgian international playmaker is allegedly interesting Serie A cracks Atalanta.
However, Engels has shrugged off reports and insisted he is loving life as a Celt.
SMILES BETTER…Arne Engels celebrates with skipper Callum McGregor and his Celtic team-mates after sealing the Hoops’ fourth successive title.
He admitted he isn’t aware of any interest from the Italian club and said: “I didn’t read it, so it’s the first time that I’ve heard about it.
“There will always be something to write or to talk about and if you have a good season and, hopefully, win a lot of things, then there will always be clubs and always be speculation around a lot of players.
“I think I am not the only one here who will have speculation in the summer. I’m just focused on the next game and it’s a really big one. Then, in the summer, I only want to get better.”
Asked if there was scope for improvement, Engels, who has netted 10 goals in his debut campaign, answered: “Yes, 100 per cent. There is always a lot of things to get better on and also as a team. We still lost some games and we don’t want to lose any games next year.
UP FOR THE CUP…Arne Engels celebrates his first-ever medal as Callum McGregor and the Hoops celebrate the Premier Sports League Cup victory at Hampden in December.
“I think there will be a lot of work in the summer that we need to do and we need to get better in that we can have a better season next year.
“It’s a big thing to go into Europe and to do really well there and, hopefully, we can compete for all the trophies again like we did this year and we will see where we end.”
Engels, who is aiming for a hat-trick of domestic honours against the Dons, is already looking forward to a full pre-season preparation work with Brendan Rodgers.
The smooth operator, speaking to Celtic TV, added: “It’s up to me to work hard into the summer and then we will see where we are.
“But, yeah, it’s a big aim for me to do better than this year.
SPOT ON…Arne Engels sinks a penalty-kick in the champions’ 5-2 win over St Mirren in Paisley in March.
“I know I did well this year, but I also want to do even better next year and make a lot of steps in my football career.”
Engels and Celtic are on the brink of a world record ninth domestic clean sweep and their sixth treble in nine fantastically successful years.
He added: “It was, of course, a big thing to come here and to win trophies and to be able to win three trophies in the end would be an amazing feeling.
“It would be a perfect season for me to start here. So, yeah, that would be really nice.”
