Brendan Rodgers hits back at Arne Engels critics as Celtic boss offers 2 examples to any doubters

Brendan Rodgers has hit out at critics of Arne Engels’ form and insists he has no doubts Celtic’s record signing will come good.

Belgian international midfielder Engels has struggled to make a significant impact in some of the Scottish champions’ recent fixtures. The 21-year-old was substituted after an hour of Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw against Club Brugge in the Champions League at Celtic Park.

Many Celtic fans have called for Paulo Bernardo, who replaced him in midweek, to be handed a regular starting spot in midfield. But Rodgers has echoed the sentiments of Record Sport columnist Chris Sutton in urging supporters to show more patience with £11million signing Engels.

The Hoops boss also pointed out that Portuguese under-21 international Bernardo and German winger Nicolas Kuhn both faced similar scrutiny in their initial spells at the clubs before winning the fans over. “It’s called time,” said Rodgers. “Arne is a fantastic young player. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have brought him here.

“He doesn’t set the price tag. He’s come here to a big club to improve his game. I’ve got absolutely no doubt he will do that.

"I know in life now it is a challenge for any of them but I think the most recent example of that would be Paulo Bernardo. He was exactly the same, if I remember back, highlighting Paulo in his performances this time last year.

“Now, he can't be cheered on loudly enough when he enters onto the pitch. That's called development. It's called patience. Hopefully, I know it won't be the case, but I would hope that people will learn their lesson. Seeing people that were writing off Paulo and Nicolas Kuhn, and it'll be Arne Engels, then it'll be someone else. Then you have to look and see and understand that development