ARNE ENGELS insists he’s coped well with the scrutiny that comes with being a Celtic player.

The Belgium international was the Hoops’ record signing last summer when he joined from Augsburg in an £11million deal.

But it hasn’t always been plain sailing for Engels in his first season in Glasgow.

He’s regularly shown his quality and his numbers back that up.

Engels has netted 10 goals and contributed 12 assists with Celtic gunning for the domestic treble.

But while it’s a campaign on its way to ending on the highest of highs, Engels’ performances have sometimes come in for some criticism.

He enjoyed a stellar start to his Hoops career but found it tougher for a period towards the end of the calendar year.

In late October, Brendan Rodgers defended Engels and insisted he would come good.

The Celts boss said back then: “There’s a price around him which could make you think you’re buying someone who’s the finished article but he’s not.

“He’s a 21-year old who’s got great potential and it’s my job here to develop that.”

He added: “I understand it, people make a judgement and an opinion but I’m so, so happy he chose to come here. He’s shown more than enough in this short period of time that he’s going to be fantastic for us.”

Almost six months on, Engels has spoken for the first time on the intense scrutiny that comes with playing for Celtic.

Lifting the lid on the rougher moments he’s experienced, Engels explained why he hasn’t allowed outside noise to get to him.

Asked how he’s handled the pressure, the 21-year old told the Official Celtic FC Podcast: “I think quite okay.

“I don’t read a lot so that’s a good point that I’m not really watching those things on the internet.

“I know what I’m doing, I’m still a young player and it’s my first season here.

“I still need to work on things and also settle in.

“Now I’m really settled in and I know everything and everything is going well off the pitch. But I think I coped really well with it and I wasn’t really stressing because I was believing in my own qualities.

“That’s also a good point of me, that I’m not really thinking about the bad things every time, but also knowing my qualities and abilities, that I’m capable of trying to do something and trying to get an assist or a goal.

“I hope that I can help the team a little bit more with those things and I’m sure I will.”

Engels revealed he joined Celtic as he was eager to find a winning mentality.

As he approaches the end of his first year at the club, he’s now on the cusp of a treble.

On life playing for Celtic, Engels admitted: “I love it, actually.

“The winning mentality is something that suits me really well and I was looking forward to.

“There are still two more things to win and everybody is really focused on that. Now it’s about winning and that’s what we always do and what we love to do.

“But about the season, everything has gone really smoothly and good. Of course, it was my first season so there were a lot of ups and downs.

“But I think there were a lot of ups also and we just need to think about those and not only about one or two months that it was a bit less.

“That’s how it is, especially at a big club like this when you need to perform every week and every game.

“I’m just looking forward to ending this season really well and in a really good way and hopefully win some more.”

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