The figure that is mentioned most when discussing Arne Engels and assessing the start he has made to his Celtic career is undoubtedly his £11m price tag. Mentioned less is his age, with the Belgian internationalist coming to a new country with that fee on his shoulders at just 21.

Despite widespread perceptions that he has yet to live up to expectations over the piece, his opening goal for his side against Motherwell on Boxing Day was his fifth in 23 appearances already – though admittedly, four of those have come from the penalty spot.

What it all adds up to though, at least in his own estimation, is a more than satisfactory start to life at Celtic.

His manager, Brendan Rodgers, spoke about Engels in the aftermath of the win over Motherwell, saying that he has been hugely impressed by the ability in training, and that he is starting to see that demonstrated more consistently on a matchday too. And, crucially, that there is much more to come.

Engels himself has echoed that sentiment, taking the time to look back over his first four months in the country after making a valuable contribution to Celtic’s latest victory.

“I think it's always nice to help the team,” Engels said.

“That's why I'm here. That's why everybody's here is to help the team win. So that's the most important thing.

“It's always nice to grab a goal then and to help the team like this. So, yeah, it was a nice afternoon. Everybody knows that you need to perform here and everybody is doing really well.

“Everybody's pushing each other. So, that's a really nice competition into the team and that helps us also to perform every game. I think everybody is performing really well and then you get wins.

“It's been really nice. Everybody's really nice to me. Also settling down here, it's been amazing. It's an amazing country actually. So, it's all been easy for me.

“In the team, the boys are amazing. They're all fantastic guys that we can love every day. So, it has been really enjoyable actually.

“Just the people [are my favourite thing about Scotland] actually. Everybody's so nice to each other. That makes me feel really welcome here.

Read more:

• Celtic 4 Motherwell 0: Engels shines as champions get back to winning ways

• Brendan Rodgers certain there is more to come from Arne Engels and Celtic

“Also, of course, you have really beautiful places here in Scotland. The city is also nice. So, it has been really nice.”

His penalty prowess may have inflated his scoring stats somewhat, but he still has to stick them away, and in important moments such as the one he faced on Thursday, Engels seems completely unfazed.

“I'm always training on it,” he said.

“It's not really something that I'm really thinking about or something. I'm just training it like everybody's training and everybody's ready to take it. So, like you saw in the cup (final), everybody is taking them really well. And that's the most important thing that we can all take a good penalty and that we can all score.

“I think I'm just confident in my shooting abilities. So, that makes it more easy for me to take a penalty. I think it's nothing really special that I'm thinking about.

“I'm just doing it.”

(Image: Jane Barlow - PA) What Engels also seems to be doing then is slowly winning over any remaining sceptics, and he will be hoping to follow up his performance against Motherwell with another good showing against St Johnstone tomorrow to stake a claim for a starting place against Rangers in the New Year derby.

Not that he would ever admit to thinking that far ahead, just yet.

“I think we showed already every week that we are in a good place,” he said.

“It's now just up to us to keep the focus and keep working on the next game.

“I think we showed already a few weeks and a few months that we are ready for every game. I think it's the same for the next one.

“We just talk about the next game. We talked about this game, now we're talking about the next game. We see every game by itself, and we don't look forward [beyond that] because then you forget the important things of the next games.

“You need to win every game here, so you need to be focused every week.”

Meanwhile, there was another bit of good news for Celtic on Thursday with Nicolas Kuhn coming off the bench after a knee issue that had ruled him out of the trip to face Dundee United just prior to Christmas.

True to his form this season, the winger found the net, with his tally of 13 goals so far already over double his previous best for a campaign - which was the six scored last term.

And while he isn’t yet at 100 percent, another run-out against St Johnstone should have him fit and firing by the time Ibrox rolls around.

“It was still a bit painful, but it was good to be back,” he said.

“The goal was not the nicest I’ve scored but I will take it.

“It’s nice to pick up where I left off. I just tried to continue the way I’ve started this season, and I was happy to get the goal. But the most important thing was the three points.

“I feel good. I am really happy at the club, with the team and all the people here.

“I enjoy playing. Do I have a taste for goals? Yes. Maybe at the end I could have taken another shot but I wanted to get the assist! It’s nice to assist too.

“I don’t really set targets. The most important thing for me is to stay fit after a full pre-season with the team. I have felt fit all season so hopefully it will be fine and I am back 100 percent soon.

“This has been my best return now and there are still a lot of games to come. You can’t play in all of them, but I am happy to be back and I want to continue.

“My ambitions are just to stay fit and keep going.”