Celtic must unleash “fantastic young player” who could be Kuhn 2.0

Sunday sees the first silverware of the season up for grabs in Scotland, as fierce rivals Celtic and Rangers go head-to-head at the National Stadium in the League Cup Final.

Brendan Rodgers has never lost any of his 13 matches at Hampden as a manager, picking up a trio of League Cups so far, while he has the best win % of any manager in Old Firm history (79%), claiming victory from 15 of his 19 encounters with Rangers, losing only once.

The Hoops have won the last two League Cup Finals between Glasgow’s big two, most recently prevailing 2-1 in February 2023, courtesy of Kyōgo Furuhashi’s brace.

Right now, remarkably, Celtic and Rangers both have 118 major honours to their name, meaning victory for the Bhoys on Sunday would see them boast more trophies than their fierce rivals for the first time since 1938.

Ahead of this massive clash, we ponder the key selection decision Rodgers has to make.

Celtic’s domestic dominance

Celtic have cruised through to a seventh League Cup Final in just nine seasons, overcoming both Hibs and Falkirk at Parkhead in the early rounds, albeit the current Championship leaders did give them a bit of a scare in September, leading 2-1 with only 20 minutes to play, albeit late braces from Adam Idah and then Nicolas Kühn secured victory.

No such problems in the semi-finals however; facing an Aberdeen side who, at that point, had still not tasted defeat under Jimmy Thelin, the Celts steamrollered the Dons, cruising to a 6-0 victory, 3-0 up by half-time and five in front by the hour mark, with Daizen Maeda scoring just the second hat-trick of his career in green and white.

Meantime, in the Premiership, the champions have collected 43 points out of a possible 45, leaving them nine points clear at the top and 11 points better off than Rangers, seemingly set for capture a 13th title in just 14 seasons.

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Meanwhile, they’re also going well in the Champions League, with Tuesday’s goalless draw against Dinamo Zagreb leaving the Hoops 21st in the gigantic table, knowing that a victory when already-eliminated BSC Young Boys visit Glasgow next month will secure a spot in the knockout stages.

Before then, attention turns back to domestic matters, with Celtic seeking to hoist aloft a 20th trophy out of the last 25 available, most recently capturing the Scottish Cup in May, beating their neighbours from across the city in rather dramatic circumstances, to put it mildly.

So, as Rodgers seeks to mastermind yet another final victory over Rangers, the question remains: who should he pick in midfield?

The case for Arne Engles

Following Matt O’Riley’s £25m sale to Brighton, Celtic broke their transfer record to replace him, paying £11m to Augsburg for the services of Arne Engles.

This was an enormous outlay given, for context, the club’s previous record fee was £9m paid to Paris Saint-Germain, turning Odsonne Édouard’s loan deal into a permanent move six years ago.

Since swapping the Bundesliga for Glasgow, Engles has become a full-Belgian international, although he’s yet to nail down a guaranteed starting spot at Celtic, introduced as a second half substitute in Zagreb on Tuesday, despite scoring against Hibernian the previous weekend.

Rodgers has four attacking midfielders at his disposal, with two of the quartet set to start alongside captain Callum McGregor at the weekend, so how does Engles compare to his counterparts?

As the table shows, Engles ranks highly in all metrics, when compared to his teammates who play in the same position.

His manager stated recently that “Arne is a fantastic young player”, backing him to emulate winger Kühn, who struggled to make an immediate impact following his move from Rapid Wien, but has been outstanding this season, scoring 11 goals in all competitions.

Based on the above statistics, Rodgers should start Engles alongside Reo Hatate, with Paulo Bernardo missing out from the start, due to their superior passing abilities, considering Rangers are likely to defend deep, meaning Celtic will see plenty of the ball, having averaged 57% possession across the last eight Glasgow derbies, ending up with less than 50% only once during this period.

Either way, the Hoops are firm favourites to prevail in Sunday’s final, with the Belgian likely to feature prominently, should they indeed prevail.

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