Why Celtic set to unlock Arne Engels' West Ham transfer as record bid expected

Celtic appear to be prepping for Arne Engels' transfer to West Ham United.

The 22-year-old has been heavily linked with a move to West Ham in recent weeks.

Nuno Espirito Santo seems set on bolstering his midfield engine room before the transfer window shuts.

Engels is a player that West Ham admire, having scored 17 goals and provided 22 assists in 100 competitive appearances for Celtic.

However, a deal was always going to be a drawn out process for the Belgian international given how important he is at Parkhead.

But Celtic may just have revealed to West Ham that they're planning for life without Engels.

Who are Celtic set to sign as potential Arne Engels replacement?

Alan Nixon claimed via his Patreon on Wednesday that West Ham are ready to table a £30million approach for Engels.

That would shatter the current Championship transfer record set by Ipswich Town last summer, when they paid £17.5m to sign Sindre Walle Egeli.

Nixon's report also claimed that Celtic have a couple of potential replacements for Engels lined up, both of whom play in Europe.

One of those seems to be Paderborn's Mika Baur, as revealed in an X post from Sky transfer reporter Florian Plettenberg.

Plettenberg claims that a full agreement has been reached for Celtic to sign Baur in a £6.8m deal, and on a contract until 2031.

Baur is now said to be on his way to Glasgow with his representatives, and that the transfer will go through pending his medical and contract signing.

The 22-year-old German youth international is a very similar player to Engels, capable of operating as a six, eight or in the 10.

With this deal possibly set to pave the way for Engels' West Ham switch, would he be able to hit the ground running straight away in E20?

Why West Ham wouldn't need to be patient with Engels

Sometimes, when a player is expected to leave a club, as is the growing sense surrounding Engels, his selling side choose to sideline the player.

That's typically done in order to protect the transfer from falling through if the player was to pick up an injury.

However, this can mean that by the time the player joins his new team, he requires a number of weeks to gradually build his match fitness back up.

In Engels' case, that wouldn't be an issue for West Ham, as Celtic haven't been wrapping him in cotton wool whilst transfer talk has rumbled.

The Belgian has played every minute of Celtic's first two Scottish Premiership games this season, and got an assist last time out against Kilmarnock.

As such, he'd be arriving at the London Stadium in full match fitness condition and ready to carve out an instant starting role.