MARTIN O’NEILL admitted he is “really disappointed” Daizen Maeda has ended his four-and-a-half year association at Celtic.
However, the veteran boss insisted the Japanese speedster “deserves the opportunity” to display his qualities in the English top flight after his £10million move to newly-promoted Ipswich Town was sealed yesterday, as CQN reported.
Maeda has been the champions’ talisman over the past couple of seasons as the club picked up four trophies, including two titles to take the sequence to five consecutive championships.
The jet-paced frontman has featured in all five successes and claimed the nine crucial strikes in the Hoops’ seven-game run-in to last season’s remarkable double.
THE LAST GOAL…Daizen Maeda lobs in the opener in the 3-1 Scottish Cup Final victory over Dunfermline at Hampden on May 23.
In the previous campaign, in which the club sold Kyogo Furuhashi in the January window to French side Rennes, Maeda completed the term with an astonishing 33 goals to win multiple Player of the Year awards.
A proposed £14million move to Bundesliga club Wolfsburg fell through late in negotiations and the attacker extended his career in the east end of Glasgow by an additional year.
Now Maeda has finally realised a lifelong ambition to play in the top division across the border and he leaves Celtic with the best wishes of a grateful manager.
O’Neill said: “I am really disappointed that he’s gone.
“I would have loved him to have stayed at the football club, seen his time out and walked away on a free if that was the case next season.
TEN AND OUT…Daizen Maeda with the Scottish Cup, his tenth trophy at Celtic.
“But it wasn’t to be and I can understand that in every aspect.
“It’s the Premier League and wages-wise it’s something we probably couldn’t compete with.”
O’Neill, speaking in the Scottish Sun, added: “In fairness, I think he turned down a big offer from us 18 months ago to stay on the same wages as this was something he wanted to do.
“He deserves this opportunity at 28 years of age to go and play there.”
Maeda netted 79 goals in 212 appearances for the Hoops and, including his five titles, lifted ten trophies with three Scottish Cups and two League Cups added to the Championships.
WANT TO KNOW A SECRET? Celtic Confidential is the stunning book that brings the exclusive inside stories behind the headlines. Who was the tycoon who would have ruined Celtic? What really happened the night Kenny Dalglish quit the club? The real story behind Mo Johnston’s sensational move to Ibrox. All is revealed in Alex Gordon’s sixteenth Celtic book which is available NOW. Order a copy and get £5 OFF the cover price of £25. Just click SHOP HEREand your book will be on its way. Enjoy the revelations!
