CELTIC shouldn’t hesitate for even a heartbeat in allowing Daizen Maeda to leave in January – if, of course, the price is right.
It will mean the Japanese international speedster clearing his locker at Lennoxtown for the second time in five months, but this time there should be no last-minute hitch.
You and I were informed in the aftermath of a less-then-memorable summer transfer window that Maeda was on the brink of a move elsewhere. It looked like a done deal, but there is always room for an impediment when the fat lady has yet to sing.
And, on this occasion, there was no sign of the warbling portly dame. The proposed shift collapsed and Maeda returned to the champions.
ON THE MOVE…Daizen Maeda in action during Celtic’s Premier Sports League Cup semi-final victory over Ibrox opposition at Hampden earlier this month.
In the fall-out of the transfer misstep, the player appeared to lose his mojo. You can never fault the endeavour or willingness to work so unselfishly for the team of the 28-year-old speedster, but I sensed something was missing from his make-up.
Maybe he had exhausted his Duracell battery? Who knows? However, this is not the same Maeda who took over the responsibility as the team’s main goal threat following the departure of his prolific compatriot Kyogo Furuhashi in January.
Brendan Rodgers backed his judgement to fill the frontline’s £10million hole with Adam Idah, who cost a mere £500,000 less when he arrived in a permanent deal from Norwich City the previous summer.
The manager insisted the Republic of Ireland international frontman – a goal hero in the Scottish Cup Final triumph over Philippe Clement’s Ibrox side in the memorable last game of the 2023/24 crusade – was his “priority” target as we basked in the afterglow of another Hampden success.
Despite claiming twelve goals in 22 games after the sale of the fans’ favourite, Idah failed to convince.
Exit Kyogo, enter Maeda.
DOWN AND OUT…Daizen Maeda reflects on a miss against Kairat Almaty.
Rodgers brought the pacy attacker in from the left and he responded in emphatic fashion with 18 strikes on his way to an impressive 33-goal haul; an achievement that was rightly recognised by multiple Player of the Year awards.
But that was then and this is now.
Sherlock Holmes qualities are not required to detect all is not well. Maeda arrived at the club in January 2022 and we hardly heard a word out of him as he got his head down and went to work.
Nowadays, he is sounding off about being played in the wrong position. Is this a mischievous Daizen doppelganger who has emerged since the end of last season?
No-one requires a roadmap to read between the lines in the midst of such mutterings. The player’s contract is due to expire in June 2027. I think it’s more likely we will discover there is a Santa Claus than Maeda being around the place to see out his deal.
I fear we have witnessed the best of this player. To be fair, Ange Postecoglou paid a reported £1million to sign his former forward from Yokohama F Marinos and I reckon Celtic have had their money’s worth.
I think it’s time to let him go. Would it surprise you to learn Maeda has scored a paltry four goals in his last 18 outings?
HAMPDEN HOWLER…Daizen Maeda fails to beat Aberdeen keeper Dimitar Mitov in the fading moments of the Scottish Cup Final flop in May.
He fired blanks in the last five games of the previous campaign – including a dreadful late miss in the embarrassing Scottish Cup Final malfunction against Aberdeen – and has amassed the sum total of zilch in 13 appearances this time around.
His moments of netbulging success have come against Falkirk, Motherwell and Kilmarnock (2).
Mystifying, isn’t it?
Unlike the celebrated works of acknowledged literary genius Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I believe we have all worked out how this one ends.
Some of you may wish to join me in saying: “Sayonara, Daizen…and thanks for the memories.”
ALEX GORDON
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