Celtic last night splashed £18million to land Arne Engels, Auston Trusty and Luke McCowan in a triple deadline day swoop.
The Parkhead club broke their transfer record to land Engels for £11m from Augsburg, with a further £6m spent to take Trusty from Sheffield United.
This was followed late last night by the £1m signing of Dundee captain McCowan after Hibs had four bids for the player rejected.
Engels, the 20-year-old Belgian midfielder, put pen to paper on a four-year deal after flying from Germany to London to complete his medical.
Called up to the full squad for his national team for the first time yesterday, his fee eclipses the £9m Celtic paid Paris Saint-German for Odsonne Edouard in 2018 and the £9.5m the Glasgow giants could eventually pay Norwich for Adam Idah.
Viewed as one of the rising stars of Belgian football, Engels only moved from Brugge’s academy to Augsburg in 2023 but has made an enormous impression at the Bundesliga club.
The £11m arrival of Belgian playmaker Arne Engels has broken Celtic's transfer record
Auston Trusty moved to Arsenal from Colorado Rapids and spent last year with Sheffield Utd
Dundee captain Luke McCowan has sealed a life-changing transfer to the current champions
‘We are delighted to bring Arne to Celtic,’ said manager Brendan Rodgers. ‘He is an exciting young player of real quality who has already made his mark at a really high level in the Bundesliga.
‘He has a wide range of attributes which will allow him to play a number of positions in midfield, so we feel he is an excellent acquisition for the club.
‘I think Arne’s style of play, his energy and his technical ability really will suit our game model.’
Trusty, a 26-year-old left-sided American international defender, spent last year in the Premier League with the Blades having struggled to see first-team action at Arsenal after joining from Colorado Rapids in 2022.
‘I feel ecstatic,’ he told Celtic TV. ‘It’s just such an historic and amazing club, and it’s a club I’ve known about since I was a little kid.
‘Growing up in Philadelphia, football wasn’t such a popular sport, but I knew who Celtic were. It’s a dream come true to join this club and such a massive organisation.’
Rodgers greets his new loan arrival from Barcelona, left-back Alex Valle, during training
Celtic left it late to sign McCowan but concluded a deal for the boyhood fan shortly before the 11pm deadline.
The late flurry of business by the Scottish champions came after they signed full-back Alex Valle on loan from Barcelona this week.
Earlier in the window, Celtic tied up deals for former loan player Idah, with Paulo Bernardo also returning from Benfica in a £3.5m move.
With Joe Hart retiring, the club also brought in two goalkeepers in Kasper Schmeichel and Viljami Sinisalo.
As well as earning £26m up front from Brighton for Matt O’Riley, Celtic have moved on a host of fringe players with Mikey Johnston yesterday returning to West Brom in a permanent deal worth £3m.
Birmingham City last night completed a deal for midfielder Tomoki Iwata.
Tomoki Iwata has checked out of Parkhead after landing a move to big-spending Birmingham
Speaking in the afternoon, Rodgers didn’t rule out the possibility of his latest signings being involved against Rangers tomorrow.
‘Yes, they could be,’ he said. ‘I think a number of the players that we’re looking at have been playing up to speed.
‘We always do a MOT on a player when he comes in, just to see where they’re at anyway. But most of the players that we’re looking at will be in a good place.’
Meanwhile, Rodgers has allayed fears that Cameron Carter-Vickers could miss the derby at Celtic Park. The defender sat training out yesterday, but his manager confirmed that he was only giving him a rest.