West Ham United have broken the EFL transfer record by paying a £22m fee to sign Arne Engels from Scottish champions Celtic. The 22-year-old Belgium international has signed a five-year contract after West Ham paid what they called a "record fee paid by an EFL Championship club". It tops the £17.5m paid by Ipswich Town a year ago to sign Norway forward Sindre Walle Egeli.
Following relegation in May, West Ham start their first Championship season since 2012 with a trip to Burnley on Sunday. But Engels, who can play in midfield, right-back or right-wing, will not be available to make his debut until the home league derby against Charlton Athletic at the London Stadium on Saturday, 22 August. Relive the Championship action on a busy opening Saturday Engels is West Ham's fourth summer signing after the recruitment of Venezuela midfielder Keiber Lamadrid, Dutch defender Joel Veltman and Israel winger Manor Solomon.
West Ham director of player recruitment Nils Koppen told the club website:, external "Arne is a player we have been tracking for some time as a key target. "For a player who is still very young with his best years in front of him, he has very good experience and has established himself at a big club, showing consistency and confidence. "Arne has the right traits, both as a player and as a character, to fit into what we are trying to build moving forward.
He is very motivated to be here for this challenge." Engels, who has made four appearances for Belgium, won back-to-back Scottish Premiership titles with Celtic after arriving from Augsburg in August 2024, having begun his career at Club Brugge. "It's a really nice project to come into," he said. "To try to go back to the Premier League.
"It's just up to me to hopefully help the team with it and together with the supporters to get some wins. Hopefully it's going to be a good year." West Ham's boardroom battle on eve of Championship season Quiz: How much do you remember about West Ham's 2011-12 season?
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