Arne Engels is currently undergoing his West Ham medical as he closes in on a £22 million switch from Celtic. 

The Hammers are set to smash the Championship record signing just a year after it was broken by Ipswich Town, who signed Sindre Walle Egeli from  Nordsjaelland for around £17.5 million.

The Hammers also smashed the Championship sale record with Mateus Fernandes joining London rivals Spurs for a whopping £85m; quite interestingly, Arne Engels will be the direct replacement for the Portuguese international.

In terms of profile at least. Engels will be the perfect replacement for Fernandes. He can play both as a six and as an eight; I guess he could play as a ten too, but like Fernandes, he’s better where he can get involved in a bit of everything in the midfield.

The Belgian international is a midfielder who likes to get the ball from the defence and find the attacking players with his technical ability. His first touch is impressive; he can find space between the lines, and he is an excellent progressive passer rather than a dribbler, much like Fernandes.

He also has an engine like Fernandes; Engels covers a lot of ground during matches. He’s also pretty mobile; he’d likely come in and be our most mobile and agile midfielder by a country mile.

Fernandes isn’t a player known for his physicality, but he did have enough to hold off midfielders. Engels doesn’t really have that in his game, but he does have something else Mateus didn’t really have for us last season. Set-piece delivery.

Engels is an excellent crosser from both open play and dead balls, which could be a weapon we could do with next season, especially if JWP isn’t an important player, and you’d hope he wouldn’t be if we sign Engels.

Engels is a player who is good enough for the Premier League; Nottingham Forest made a £25 million bid for him in January, which was rejected. We’ve managed to bring him to West Ham in the Championship, and I believe a year of the hustle and bustle in the second tier could make him an even better PL player if we are to get promoted.