Celtic continued their model of buying and selling talent in the summer transfer window last year when they sold Matt O’Riley to Brighton & Hove Albion for a reported fee of more than £25m.
The Hoops responded to that sale by breaking their own transfer record to sign Belgium international Arne Engels from Bundesliga side Augsburg for £11m, making him the second-most expensive signing in the history of the Scottish Premiership.
He has hit the ground running at Parkhead with nine goals and five assists in the league, and he ranks seventh for minutes played with 1,683 so far.
That is particularly impressive when you consider that minutes for young players have been hard to come by under Brendan Rodgers at Paradise this season.
Celtic's lack of minutes for U23 talent in the Premiership
Engels is the only player under the age of 23 with at least 1,000 minutes played in the Premiership this season, which shows that he has been the only young talent to play regularly in the league under the Northern Irish boss.
In fact, Hyun-jun Yang (800 minutes) and Engels (1,683 minutes) are the only current players under the age of 23 to have played more than 41 minutes in the league for Celtic this term, as Alex Valle left the club in the January transfer window.
Arne Engels
1,683
19
Hyun-jun Yang
800
8
Alex Valle
651
7
Johnny Kenny
41
0
Odin Thiago Holm
25
0
Jude Bonnar
10
0
Francis Turley
1
0
There is a former Hoops youngster who may have topped the list this season if he had remained at Parkhead, though, as Ben Doak has thrived since his move down south.
Ben Doak is now similar to a future Ballon d'Or winner
The Scottish whiz joined Liverpool at the age of 16 in 2022 after playing two times for the Celtic first-team, and the Premier League giants had to pay a compensation fee of just £600k.
Doak played ten times for the Reds at senior level before joining Middlesbrough on loan for the 2024/25 campaign, and he has caught the eye in the English second tier.
The 19-year-old star, whose value has soared to £12m on Transfermarkt, has been compared to soon-to-be Chelsea forward Estevao Willian on FBref, as the Brazil international is listed as one of the most similar players to the Scottish ace.
As you can see in the chart above, Doak and Estevao assist goals and progress play via carries at an incredibly similar rate, based on their respective statistics over the last 365 days.
This is particularly impressive when you consider that the Brazilian forward has been heralded as a “future Ballon d’Or winner” by analyst Ben Mattinson, who claimed that the youngster is “destined for the top”.
Estevao has scored five goals in 15 games for Palmeiras in 2025, after managing 13 goals and nine assists in the Brazilian top-flight last year, and is also a similar player to Doak in the sense that they are both left-footed speedsters who typically start on the right flank.
The former Celtic man, who was described as “unplayable” by ex-coach Barry Lewtas, has delivered three goals and seven assists in the Championship, racking up 1,787 minutes – even more than Engels has managed in the Premiership.
Doak, capped six times by Scotland, has gone on to forge a strong career for himself since leaving Parkhead, despite still only being 19, as he has become a fully-fledged Scotland international and regular for Middlesbrough in England.
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His performances have even been good enough to earn him comparisons with future Chelsea winger Estevao, who has been tipped to win the Ballon d’Or, and Celtic may wonder what could have been if they had managed to keep hold of him back in 2022.