Forest Can't Get Their Man: Celtic Reject THIRD Bid For Engels

Celtic Adament Arne Engels is Not For Sale, Rejecting Forest's £25m Bid

In perhaps one of the most entertaining sagas of Deadline Day, Arne Engels looks as though he will end the day with Celtic, as his club have rejected a third bid from Nottingham Forest, with the Scottish giants emphasising that he is not for sale, according to Anthony Joseph of Sky Sports News.

🚨 Celtic have REJECTED Nottingham Forest’s latest bid for Arne Engels, which was worth up to £25m. More ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/pxoXilrfIa

— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) February 2, 2026

Forest put in a bid of £20 million with a further £5 million in add-ons, which is over double what Celtic paid for him in August 2024, an offer that the club's hierarchy were 'mulling over'.

They've stayed firm on their position, though, and unless Forest are prepared to shell out even more, they will have to settle for two failed transfer attempts for the day.

Nightmare Deadline Day for Forest

Forest have already had their first two bids for Engels today refused, with their previous offer worth £17.3 million, so the latest one to have been rejected is still a big step up in price.

Celtic boss Martin O'Neill was vocal yesterday about his desire for the club not to sell up on Engels, who joined from Augsburg a year-and-a-half ago for £11m, meaning they would've had more than double their money had they accepted the latest offer.

The board are clearly backing O'Neill though, by refusing to let the Belgian midfielder walk, and the club are hoping that the latest rejection will put an end to Forest's interest, having already told them this morning that they will not sell him.

UPDATE: Celtic have rejected Nottingham Forest’s third bid worth £25m bid for Arne Engels.#NFFC want to pay a guaranteed fee of £20m for Engels with £5m in add-ons.

(w/@SkyAnton) https://t.co/sbcw338PUO pic.twitter.com/IrWanUUFG6

— Anthony Joseph (@AnthonyRJoseph) February 2, 2026

This all comes after Sean Dyche's club faced another rejection, this time by Championship side Middlesbrough, with regards to star midfielder Hayden Hackney. With the clock running out, Forest need to hope their luck in a last-minute pursuit for a midfielder changes quickly, or they'll have to go without.

Should the Premier League side return with an even bigger fourth offer for Engels, then Celtic will have a very difficult decision to make, as the proposed offers so far are already nearing the territory of their record sales and causing consideration among the board.

For now, though, it is back to the drawing board for Forest, who need to act fast if they want to bring someone in.