Martin O’Neill has braced Celtic fans for a summer exodus, admitting he is resigned to losing Arne Engels and Daizen Maeda and planning talks with captain Callum McGregor about his future — a trio whose departure would rip the spine out of the Scottish champions.
The veteran Northern Irish manager’s comments, reported over the weekend, will deepen anxiety among supporters already unsettled by a transfer window that has brought in only one new face: Colombian striker Camilo Duran from Azerbaijan’s Qarabag. O’Neill is trying to reshape a squad that nearly lost the league title to Heart of Midlothian last season, but may now have to rebuild without three of its most influential players.
“O'Neill resigned to losing Engels and Maeda, plans McGregor talks; Celtic's only summer signing is Camilo Duran.”
Engels, 22, arrived from Bundesliga side Augsburg in the summer of 2024 as a replacement for Matt O’Riley, who had scored 19 goals in 49 appearances before being sold to Brighton. The Belgian international, capped four times, has not yet matched O’Riley’s peak numbers but has shown he can be a regular scorer from midfield — 10 goals in 2024-25 and seven last season, including strikes in the trophy-clinching final-day Scottish Premiership win over Hearts and the Scottish Cup final victory against Dunfermline Athletic. His eight assists last season underlined his creative contribution.
Maeda, meanwhile, peaked in 2024-25 with 33 goals in 51 appearances, but has been consistently prolific: double figures in his three other full seasons, 17 goals in 2025-26 and eight in the second half of 2021-22. His 38 assists have helped him collect 10 pieces of silverware, including five league titles, during his time at Celtic.
McGregor’s importance is even harder to quantify. At 33, the former Scotland midfielder is one of Celtic’s most decorated players, with 26 honours including 11 league wins. He has scored 77 goals in 576 appearances and provided 84 assists since his breakthrough in 2014. But it is his intangible qualities — experience and leadership — that O’Neill will find most difficult to replace, as the captain reportedly signs up to a new agency that may hasten his departure.
With only Duran added so far and time running out, O’Neill faces the prospect of losing not just goals and assists but the very glue that held his team together. For Celtic, already on a knife-edge after last season’s near-collapse, the summer window is threatening to become a full-blown crisis.
