Arne Engels on learning from Man City legend Kevin De Bruyne

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The Celtic Star

·15 May 2025

Arne Engels on learning from Man City legend Kevin De Bruyne

Arne Engels has revealed that even if he plays a vital part in Celtic securing the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup and achieving a domestic treble this month, he will not be getting complacent – especially after witnessing first hand the standards set by Belgian star Kevin De Bruyne…

Kevin De Bruyne of Belgium crosses the ball past Josip Juranovic of Croatia during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group F match between Croatia and Belgium at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium on December 01, 2022 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Since arriving from German club Augsburg for a club-record £11 million on the final day of last summer’s transfer window, Engels has done much to prove his worth to the Scottish Champions.

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The 21 year-old has become an influential figure in the Hoops squad, playing a huge role in guiding Rodgers’ men to the Champions League knockout stage, securing the Premier Sports Cup, and successfully defending the Premiership title for the fourth consecutive season.

Arne Engels of Celtic celebrates at full time during the SPL | Premier League match between Dundee United FC and Celtic FC at Tannadice Park on April 26, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Engels on how De Bruyne maintains his professionalism on international duty

The midfield playmaker, who is keen to earn a spot in his national team for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against North Macedonia and Wales, has observed how Manchester City icon De Bruyne maintains his professionalism during international duty.

When questioned about whether his legendary fellow countryman serves as an inspiration to him, he said via Daily Record: “Yeah, of course. When I am in the national team, I always try to learn things from those big players. But it is the same here. I’m always trying to learn from everybody.

“It’s not only the big players that you’re learning from because every player has their own qualities and their own way of doing things. You can add everything to your game and try to steal everything with your eyes.

Arne Engels at Ibrox. theRangers v Celtic, 4 May 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

“It helps me a lot when you’re in the national team”

“But, of course, it helps me a lot when you’re in the national team and training with those great players. You see how they behave on the training pitch and how they adapt themselves to some kind of situations.

“You’re looking to those players, but also in the Champions League if you watch the semi-finals and the other quarter-finals and you see so many good players and trying to see how they behave and how they do. It’s always a good thing to see that.”

Engels added: “He [De Bruyne] is just a normal guy like everybody else. That’s also a really good thing to have in the national team, that those big players can just speak to everybody and speak to the younger guys, help them with every kind of situation and also try to manage them a bit, how they need to behave next to the pitch and stuff.

St Johnstone v Celtic, Scottish Cup Semi-Final at Hampden Park on 20 April 2025: Arne Engels Celtic. Photo Alex Todd IMAGO

“He has also been captain from the national team for a while so of course you need to look and need to listen and respect those players. He’s been a wonderful player for so many years now, with so many goals, so many assists, for his club.

“He’s showing it every week if he gets the playing time that he’s one of the best midfielders in the world.”

“There are not a lot of players who are doing that at this age. He’s showing it every week if he gets the playing time that he’s one of the best midfielders in the world.”

De Bruyne is poised to conclude his illustrious decade-long stint at City this month, with speculation swirling about his next destination. However, Engels humorously remarked that he will not be encouraging him to make a move to Celtic. “He’s in my position so I’m not going to do that!” he said.

Celtic and theRangers supporters have engaged in extensive debate this season over who is the better Belgian midfielder – Engels or Nico Raskin.

Nevertheless, the former Club Brugge academy product is more focused on the fact that both he and Raskin are drawing the attention of football fans in Belgium to the Scottish game.

Arne Engels of Celtic is seen during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD8 training and press conference at Villa Park on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“If you do good people are watching”

“That’s always the aim,” he said. “If you do good people are watching it so I hope if we are doing good that the people over there in Belgium are also watching the game. If there is a Belgian playing in a club somewhere or in a league or at home that everybody wants to watch it.”

“I hope so it’s good for Belgian football. I think we have a really good generation coming up. We still need to improve a lot, but everybody is still young, everybody is really talented. So we are in a really good way and we have a lot of really good players. Hopefully that will be really good for the Belgium national team in the end.”

Conor Spence

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