West Ham United have broken the EFL transfer record by paying a £22m fee to sign midfielder Arne Engels from Scottish champions Celtic (cf. BBC).
West Ham’s new director of player recruitment Nils Koppen (left)told the club website: “Arne is a player we have been tracking for some time as a key target.”The 22-year-old Belgium international scored 17 goals and provided 22 assists in 100 Celtic appearances. Unfortunately he will not be available to make his debut in the first game of the season on Sunday against Burnley, but should be available in the home league derby against Charlton Athletic at the London Stadium on Saturday, 22 August. Engels is West Ham’s fourth summer signing after the recruitment of Venezuela midfielder Keiber Lamadrid (who had already joined the Hammers on loan last season), Dutch defender Joel Veltman from Ajax (who has also played for Brighton), and Israel winger Manor Solomon from Tottenham.
The Hammers are also working on the signing of 24-year-old Irish striker Troy Parrott from AZ Alkmaar.
And there is also a new name in the financial department of the club: James Taylor, until recently Chief Financial Officer at Scottish side Rangers, has been confirmed as West Ham’s new CFO. He is the second senior figure in as many months to make the move from Ibrox to East London, following Nils Koppen’s arrival as Director of Recruitment.
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed