West Ham pay £22m for Arne Engels, setting EFL Championship transfer record

West Ham United on 15 August 2026 paid a £22m fee to sign Arne Engels from Celtic, the club announced, saying the payment was a record for an EFL Championship club; the 22-year-old Belgium international has signed a five-year contract.

Engels is the second high-profile departure from Celtic this summer following Daizen Maeda's move to promoted Ipswich, and the £22m fee surpasses the previous Championship-era high of £17.5m paid by Ipswich Town a year ago for Norway forward Sindre Walle Egeli.

The club described the transfer as a "record fee paid by an EFL Championship club" and confirmed Engels can operate across midfield, at right-back or on the right wing.

West Ham director of player recruitment Nils Koppen told the club website: "Arne is a player we have been tracking for some time as a key target. "For a player who is still very young with his best years in front of him, he has very good experience and has established himself at a big club, showing consistency and confidence. "Arne has the right traits, both as a player and as a character, to fit into what we are trying to build moving forward. He is very motivated to be here for this challenge."

Engels commented on the move, saying: "It's a really nice project to come into," he said. "To try to go back to the Premier League. That's the big goal. "It's just up to me to hopefully help the team with it and together with the supporters to get some wins. Hopefully it's going to be a good year."

The player has made four appearances for Belgium and won back-to-back Scottish Premiership titles with Celtic after arriving from Augsburg in August 2024; he began his career at Club Brugge.

Engels is West Ham's fourth signing of the summer following Venezuela midfielder Keiber Lamadrid, Dutch defender Joel Veltman and Israel winger Manor Solomon, but he will not be available to make his debut until the home league derby against Charlton Athletic at the London Stadium on Saturday, 22 August.

Following relegation in May, West Ham will begin their first Championship season since 2012 with a trip to Burnley on Sunday.