'£11 million down the drain, Arne Engels scores again!' is now a familiar cry from the Celtic faithful, and in Wednesday evening's 6-0 trouncing of a hapless Dundee team, the chant once more got a good airing as the Belgian midfielder put in arguably one of his finest displays in a green and white jersey to date.
Seven of Engels' nine Celtic goals up to this point have been from the spot, and although he has, barring a slight mishap against Young Boys, been clinical from 12 yards, he doesn't want to be known as somewhat of a penalty merchant: "My teammates are all joking about it," revealed the midfielder after he bagged a midweek brace.
"I don't want to be the guy that only scores penalties. I'm more than that, so I'm happy to help the team with that.
“I just want to help the team win, and if that is with a goal or an assist, then that's a bonus. But I'm here to win games for Celtic, and that's, I think, the main goal.”
If emerging victorious from matches is a key aim for Engels, he is more than achieving his targets.
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Wednesday's win put Celtic 13 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership, and they are now just eight league wins away from securing their 55th title.
The midfielder was delighted with how his teammates showed up against Dundee: "I think it was really good from every perspective of the game," he said.
“I think attacking-wise, defending-wise, everything went really well for us. And even in the last minute you see everybody sprinting for the next goal or something, so it's amazing to see the drive of the boys.”
Celtic's continual progression, both domestically and in Europe, has been apparent throughout the season so far.
Brendan Rodgers' men have made giant-like strides, and Engels reckons defensively, they have come on leaps and bounds: "Defensive-wise, we've stepped up a lot already in a few months," he said.
"We are more stable, I think, than in the beginning. That you see also in the performance. We are really sharp in defence and trying to get that zero [clean sheet]."
The champions have the best defence in the league, having conceded just 12 all season. A key part of their solidity at the back has been the arrival of veteran Kasper Schmeichel.
The Dane has kept 18 out of a possible 25 clean sheets in the Premiership this campaign and is always demanding more from his teammates: "Kasper is always talking about keeping the clean sheet," said Engels.
"We are also really happy for him to help him with that.”
If the 2024/25 season was an 800-metre race, Celtic would have lapped most of their opponents by this point, and much like some of the greatest athletes of all time, they are constantly wanting to get better and turn into what Engels has described as a 'machine': "Every game, we are learning and picking things up, what we need to improve," he said.
“We have an amazing squad of people wanting to improve every week and every day. I think you see it in our performance, that it's only getting better and better every time.
“We are trying to make a machine or something from us. I think we are in a good way.
“The season is not over, so we are trying to improve every game.”
Engels' personal target this season is to net 10 goals and assist as many. Having scored nine times and set up another 10 in 2024/25 to date, he isn't far off reaching such an aim.
Despite the inherent pressure of being Celtic's record signing, Engels thrives on the expetation of playing for the club and, in fact, has grown to adore the elite mentality in Glasgow's east end: “For me personally, I'm always there to grab another goal or something, and to have that mindset," he said.
“That's why I wanted also to come here to Celtic. It's the mindset of winning and keeping on going, even if it's 4-0 or something, just to destroy teams. That's what I really like mentality-wise here, that everybody has the same mindset and the same way of thinking here. I really love it.
“In every team you have always the drive to get to another goal or something. Sometimes other teams are maybe pleased with 1-0 or 2-0, and then they want to keep that. But here we are going and going and going, and even destroying ourselves sometimes physically to get another goal. That's a really nice bonus thing that we have here as a team.”
Although there is a positive mood surrounding Celtic at the minute, that was far from the case when the winter transfer window slammed shut on Monday.
Rodgers openly wanted to sign a Kyogo Furuhashi replacement, but when 11pm came, no new centre-forward was in the building.
Such a happening increased frustration levels among supporters, yet in Wednesday's win, goals weren't an issue, with Daizen Maeda, Adam Idah, Nicolas Kuhn, and Engels himself all getting in on the act, helping to soften the blow of Celtic's failure to bring in a new striker.
“Kyogo was an amazing player, everybody knows that," said Engels. "But the people that are here are really stepping up.
"Ads [Adam Idah], Callum [McGregor], Reo [Hatate] and other people, everybody in the squad are making an impact every game and trying to do some things.
“So, that's what we are really good at, that from every position we can do something.”
The much-heralded return of flamboyant fan-favourite Jota has added yet another string to Celtic's bow in recent matches.
The Portuguese wide-man scored against Motherwell upon his homecoming and set up Maeda midweek with a fine lofted delivery from the left flank. "The cross was amazing, I think, for Daizen," said Engels.
“He's really trying to do some things and also in the pressing and in every aspect, he's trying to do everything.
“Since he's been here, he's also training really well. So, yes, I think everybody's really pleased with him coming in.”
A mammoth Champions League knockout round playoff against German giants Bayern Munich lurks in the distance, but Celtic and Engels have their focus firmly on Raith Rovers and making it through to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup this weekend.
“I think we can cause every team problems," he said. "We showed it already in the Champions League that we can do it against every team.
“But the next game is in the weekend, so that's our main focus now.
“We want to win everything, and that's why we are really good at this season, to keep on doing every game by itself and not looking forward in the next two weeks or something, just game by game.”
