West Ham set EFL record to sign Engels

West Ham United have shattered the EFL transfer record by paying £22m to land Arne Engels from Scottish champions Celtic. According to BBC Sport, the fee for the 22-year-old Belgian international midfielder tops the previous record of £17.5m that Ipswich Town paid a year ago for Sindre Walle Egeli.

Engels has signed a five-year contract following an impressive spell at Celtic, where he racked up 17 goals and 22 assists in 100 appearances and won back-to-back Scottish Premiership titles. The midfielder joined Celtic from Augsburg last August and has earned four caps for Belgium.

Return to the Premier League as the goal

The signing is West Ham's fourth of the summer, following the arrivals of Keiber Lamadrid, Joel Veltman and Manor Solomon. However, Engels won't be available for his debut until the home league derby against Charlton Athletic on 22 August, as West Ham kick off their first Championship season since 2012 with a trip to Burnley this weekend.

Engels spoke of his excitement about the project: "It's a really nice project to come into. To try to go back to the Premier League. That's the big goal." Director of player recruitment Nils Koppen added that the youngster has "the right traits, both as a player and as a character" to fit into their rebuild.