Celtic have unearthed their new Stuart Armstrong & it’s not Engels

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers made a bold call to return to Parkhead for a second time in the dugout when he joined the club in the summer of 2023.

He replaced Australian boss Ange Postecoglou, who left to join Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur, and has enjoyed an excellent second spell in Glasgow to date.

The Northern Irish boss won the Scottish Premiership and SFA Cup last term, beating Rangers 1-0 with a last-minute winner in the final, and have already won the League Cup so far this season.

Rodgers had left the club in 2019, after an almost three-year stay at Parkhead, and currently has two players who played under him in his first spell, in Callum McGregor and James Forrest.

The former Liverpool and Leicester City head coach managed some terrific Celtic stars between 2016 and 2019, and previously had a midfielder who was the perfect complement to McGregor in the middle of the park – Stuart Armstrong.

The kind of midfielder Celtic need next to Callum McGregor

McGregor has scored eight goals in the Premiership so far this season, but that is an outlier in his career as he has only managed more than seven league goals one other time for the Hoops, scoring nine in the 2019/20 campaign.

Typically, the retired Scotland international is deployed at the base of the midfield as the lone number six, with two central midfielders ahead of him in a 4-3-3 system.

This is the ideal position for the left-footed metronome because of his passing ability – completing 94% of his passes in the league this season – but also because of his lack of pace and dynamism in and out of possession.

Celtic need to have midfielders around him who can run and cover ground whilst also being able to influence matches at the top end of the pitch, which is exactly why Armstrong was the perfect number eight to play in the midfield three with him.

As you can see in the table above, the Scottish midfielder provided a decent threat as both a scorer and a creator of goals from a central midfield position for the Hoops in the Premiership, whilst he racked up 28 goals and 25 assists in all competitions.

Armstrong, whose performances earned him a £7m move to Premier League side Southampton in 2018, played 88 games under the Northern Irish head coach and contributed with 22 goals and 13 assists.

The right-footed dynamo provided great physical attributes to go along with his technical skills. Rodgers once hailed his athleticism, saying: “Physically he has everything: he’s fast, he’s strong, he’s powerful.”

Armstrong was, therefore, a complete midfielder who perfectly complemented McGregor by providing energy, pace, strength, and attacking contributions from midfield, and Rodgers has unearthed his new version of the Scottish ace, but it is not Arne Engels.

Why Arne Engels is not the new Stuart Armstrong

The Belgium international, who joined from Augsburg last summer for a club-record fee of £11m, has been a standout in the middle of the park with his ability to contribute in the final third.

Engels has racked up ten goals, with eight of those coming from the penalty spot, and registered 12 assists. This means that he has only managed two goals from open play in his 43 appearances for the Hoops, suggesting that the Belgian ace does not offer a huge goalscoring threat away from the penalty spot.

The 21-year-old midfielder is closer in profile to McGregor than he is Armstrong, though, as he does not provide outstanding strength or pace in the middle of the park, losing 54% of his duels in the Premiership this season.

There is, however, a midfielder in the Celtic squad who is the new version of Armstrong for Rodgers, and it is Portuguese maestro Paulo Bernardo.

Why Paulo Bernardo is the new Stuart Armstrong

The Scottish giants swooped to sign the 23-year-old talent from Benfica on a permanent deal for a reported fee of £3.5m last summer, after spending the 2023/24 campaign on loan at Parkhead.

Bernardo, who has been out of action since the middle of February with an ankle injury, has been unearthed as Rodgers’ next Armstrong because of his similar attributes in the middle of the park.

The Portugal U21 international was once described as a “high-intensity” and “tenacious” player by U23 scout Antonio Mango, which speaks to the energy and strength that he can provide in midfield. That is backed up by the star’s 57% duel success rate in the Premiership this term, as he has won the majority of his physical battles.

This suggests that Bernardo has the Armstrong-esque physical attributes that Engels currently lacks, which helps the former Benfica man to provide a defensive presence for the Hoops.

As you can see in the table above, the £3.5m signing has improved from his first season at the club and has been a reliable and creative figure with the ball at his feet, as Armstrong was, whilst also being excellent out of possession.

Goalscoring is an area for Bernardo to improve on, with seven goals in 69 matches for Celtic to date, but he has already proven himself to be a pretty complete central midfield option for Rodgers when fit and available.

As you can see in the clip above, he does have the instincts to get himself into goalscoring positions and it is down to Rodgers to ensure that the team is creating enough chances for him to add more goals to his game.

Bernardo has already been a terrific addition to the club and emerged as the manager’s new version of Armstrong with his play in and out of possession as a central midfielder, but the Portuguese whiz could take his game to the next level by adding a consistent threat as a goalscorer in the months and seasons to come.

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