Celtic have turned down an approach from West Ham for Arne Engels, while Everton have shown interest in Alistair Johnston, according to manager Martin O’Neill.
O’Neill said West Ham’s proposal for 22-year-old Belgian midfielder Engels fell far short of Celtic’s valuation. He also revealed that Everton manager David Moyes had contacted him about 27-year-old Canadian full-back Johnston.
“Everton have made contact,” O’Neill said. “I am not certain whether a formal offer has been submitted, but they indicated that one could be made.
“To be fair, David Moyes called me last week to let me know that an approach was coming.”
Nottingham Forest previously had a £25m offer for Engels rejected in February. The midfielder arrived at Celtic Park from Augsburg in August 2024.
Johnston, who featured in all five of Canada’s World Cup matches, signed for the Scottish champions from Montreal in January 2023.
O’Neill admitted that interest in the two players was frustrating but unsurprising. He acknowledged that retaining players can be challenging when they want to compete in one of the world’s leading leagues.
The 74-year-old added: “Our responsibility is to make every possible effort to keep them at the club.
“If we cannot do that, we will obviously need to find replacements, although replacing players of their quality would be extremely difficult.”
Celtic have already transferred Daizen Maeda to Ipswich Town this summer and recruited forwards Kasper Hogh and Camilo Duran.
“I expected there might be developments involving some of our leading players,” O’Neill said.
“As the days passed, I hoped no major interest would emerge, but realistically that was unlikely.
“Regardless, we still need to strengthen the squad and are actively working on that. Progress is being made, although it is difficult to say exactly how near we are to completing anything.”
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