Neil Lennon says Celtic duo ‘aren’t getting better’ amid Brendan Rodgers' transfer frustration

The Celtic squad is complete for the new season and another European campaign.

It’s not where Celtic or Brendan Rodgers want to be because the 2025 summer transfer window has been an unforgettable one.

Added to that, Celtic will play Europa League football, and the supporters aren’t happy because it should have been Europe’s elite competition.

But whilst all the talk is about the deals that have or haven’t been concluded this summer, Neil Lennon raised an interesting topic around the current stars from within the squad, including a certain duo – Arne Engels and Auston Trusty.

Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images

Arne Engels and Auston Trusty ‘aren’t getting better’ amid Celtic’s summer transfer window frustration

Engels is Celtic’s club-record transfer, and he joined the club last summer alongside centre-back Trusty, but they find themselves out of the XI.

When talking about transfers, Lennon thinks Rodgers is going in and asking for new faces because the likes of Engels and Trusty ‘aren’t getting better’, as he told Sky Sports Football (31/08/25).

“Just on the evidence, they are a little bit flat,” said Lennon about Celtic’s squad right now. “There is a lack of speed in their play.

“Engels is relatively new. He has been here a year. Trusty. Idah is out. Is it that these players aren’t good enough? Or they haven’t improved?

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“Or they are saying, ‘we have spent a lot of money on these players. Can we make them better?’ They aren’t getting better by the looks of things.

“So, Brendan is having to go back and say that we need x, y and z to improve the team – there will be question marks over the players I have talked about.

“On top of that, Bernardo and McCowan. What are these going to bring to the squad going forward?”

Engels and Trusty’s stats for Celtic

Engels was playing week in and week out last season, with many not convinced by what they were seeing, before being dropped to the bench for Benjamin Nygren this term.

As for Trusty, he also earned regular minutes, but Rodgers seemingly couldn’t make up his mind as to whether Liam Scales or the American is his main guy alongside Cameron Carter-Vickers.

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