Some squad numbers carry more weight than others at football clubs. Celtic are no different, particularly when it comes to the number seven shirt.
Henrik Larsson was, of course, famous for wearing the number seven shirt during his illustrious career in Scotland, scoring 227 goals in 301 matches for the club in all competitions, per Transfermarkt.
The club’s current number seven is Jota. He is now in his second spell at Parkhead and has produced 33 goals and 28 assists in 99 appearances for Celtic, per Transfermarkt, which shows that the forward is doing the number justice.
Another squad number that was made iconic by the player who donned it is the number eight jersey, because of what Scott Brown achieved at the club.
Why Scott Brown made number eight iconic
Whilst other players have worn it before, Bobby Lennox, and since, Kyogo Furuhashi, the number eight shirt is an iconic part of modern Celtic history because of what the former Scotland international did on the pitch.
Brown played a staggering 618 times for the Hoops in all competitions, per Transfermarkt, and produced 46 goals and 63 assists from a central midfield position.
The former Celtic captain led his side to ten Scottish Premiership titles, seven League Cup victories, and six SFA Cup trophies in his time in Glasgow, which shows that his spell in the team was an incredibly successful period in the club’s history.
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He was a brilliant all-round central midfielder, deserving of the number eight shirt, and Brendan Rodgers may have the club’s next iconic number eight in the making, but it is not the player currently occupying it.
The Celtic star who is a number eight in the making
Summer signing Benjamin Nygren currently wears the number eight shirt. However, it is 2024 summer signing Arne Engels who could be Celtic’s long-term number eight.
The Belgium international, who currently wears number 27, joined the Hoops from Augsburg in a club-record £11m deal last year, and has had a difficult start to the current campaign, starting two of the club’s four Premiership games, per Sofascore.
It is easy to forget, though, that Engels is only 21. He is three years younger than Nygren and the same age that Brown was when he signed from Hibernian in 2007.
The 21-year-old maestro has produced ten goals and 14 assists in 59 appearances in all competitions for Celtic to date, per Transfermarkt, which shows that he can carry a threat at the top end of the pitch.
His work out of possession can also be underrated because of his inconsistency and the fact that the Hoops are so dominant in the Premiership that he does not always get to show it off, as he did in the Champions League last term.
xAG
0.25
Top 7%
Assists
0.37
Top 6%
Shot-creating actions
3.11
Top 29%
Key passes
2.24
Top 6%
Percentage of dribblers tackled
71.4%
Top 9%
Tackles made
2.49
Top 28%
Passes blocked
1.12
Top 27%
As you can see in the table above, Engels delivered well-rounded performances in the Champions League for the Scottish giants last season, excelling among his positional peers in key metrics on and off the ball.
These statistics show that he does have the potential to be a brilliant all-round central midfielder who can impact games at both ends of the pitch, with tackles, blocks, key passes, goals, and assists.
However, it is down to Engels to develop and show consistency in his performances to prove that he deserves to be the long-term successor to the number eight shirt at Parkhead, over Nygren, who is more attack-minded and three years older.
If the Belgian star can do that, then he can begin to live up to the legacy that Brown left behind with that number.