Arne Engels has dismissed talk of a summer move to Atalanta by insisting he’s already focused on improving with Celtic next season.
The Belgian, who became the Parkhead club’s record signing when he signed for £11m from Augsburg last August, is high on the list of the Serie A side’s targets.
But the 21-year-old, who still has three years of his contract to run, says the only thing on his mind after the Scottish Cup Final will be ensuring his displays in his second season in Glasgow are even better than his first.
‘If you have a good season and hopefully win a lot of things then there will always be clubs and always be speculation around a lot of players,’ said the Belgium international.
‘I think I am not the only one here that will have speculation in the summer. I’m just focused here now on the next game. It’s a really big one and then in the summer I only want to get better.
‘There is always a lot of things to get better on. Also, as a team, we still lost some games and we don’t want to lose any games next year.
‘I think there will be a lot of work in the summer that we need to do. We need to get better in that so we can have hopefully a better season next year.
‘It’s a big thing to go into Europe and to do really well there and hopefully we can compete for all the trophies again like we did this year and we will see where we end.”
Having had a full season to adjust to life in Glasgow, Engels feels certain that a lack of disruption can help him take his game to a new level.
‘If you settle in really well then you are more relaxed and you are more aware of everything that you need to do and hopefully that will be the case next year,’ he added.
‘It’s up to me to work hard into the summer and then we will see where we are. It’s a big aim for me to do better than this year. I know I did well this year, but I also want to do even better next year and make a lot of steps into my football career.’