Nottingham Forest Walk Away from Celtic Midfielder After Two Bids Rejected

Forest move on following second Engles Bid Turned Down

Once again, the City Ground is one of the busiest grounds across the Premier League on Deadline Day, with owner Evangelos Marinakis and manager Sean Dyche keen to add further talent to the squad before tonight's deadline as they look to pull away from the relegation fight. A name they were keen on to bolster their midfield options was Celtic's Arne Engels.

However, it appears their pursuit of the Belgian has concluded without success, as Sky Sports reporter Anthony Joseph has reported that Forest have had a second bid worth £17 million rejected by the Scottish champions, after a first bid was initially turned down.

UPDATE: Celtic have rejected an improved offer of £17.3m from Nottingham Forest for midfielder Arne Engels. #CelticFC have told #NFFC that the Belgium international is not for sale in this window.#DeadlineDay https://t.co/AOfWAsicrt

— Anthony Joseph (@AnthonyRJoseph) February 2, 2026

Engles Staying at Celtic, What Next For Forest?

Engles arrived at Celtic Park last season for a fee of €13 million, becoming the second highest record signing in the club's history, and has four goals in the Scottish Premiership this season as well as being key for the Bhoys in the Europa League. Martin O'Neil expressed his desire to keep Engels at Celtic Park, stating the midfielder wouldn't be sold "unless it was £100 million."

As a result, Forest have been forced to move elsewhere, and have seemingly turned their sights to Middlesbrough's Hayden Hackney. However, according to Sky's Keith Downie, it seems like it will be a similar story with an approach for the midfielder rejected by the Championship club, as they look to hold on to Hackney to help seek out a return to the Premier League this season.

🚨 🌳 EXCL: Middlesbrough have rejected an offer this morning from Nottingham Forest for captain Hayden Hackney.
❌ Boro want Hackney to stay and help lead them to promotion.
📑 The 23-year-old has 18 months left on his Riverside deal.
❌ ☘️ Forest also failed with a move for… pic.twitter.com/UmTByhNIVS

— Keith Downie (@SkySports_Keith) February 2, 2026

With less than seven hours of the window left at the time of writing, time will tell whether Forest will bring in a midfielder before the deadline to go with the additions of Stefan Ortega and Lorenzo Lucca. It is also believed that the Reds are chasing a left-footed left-back, with a move for Napoli star Mathias Olivera having gone quiet.