DAIZEN MAEDA CELTIC DEPARTURE: “PERSONALLY AGREED”
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
Well, it seems that the Japanese press has managed in a single day to solve a mystery that has plagued their Scottish counterparts for several weeks.
Just what is going on with Daizen Maeda?
I will add, Daizen is a player I was saying Celtic should sign for more than a year before they did. And he remains my personal favorite player among the current Celtic team.
So, I take no pleasure whatsoever in what I’m about to report.
Daizen Maeda Celtic January Exit Seems a Certainty
From what is being said in Japanese media today, specifically the site Soccer Digest Web, it seems Celtic had agreed to sell our Japanese frontman last week, only to pull the plug at the last minute.
The reason cited: “Celtic hadn’t made adequate preparations to get a replacement in.”
To paraphrase a sketch from Only an Excuse: “The Celtic supporters must be feeling, erm, whatever the French is for Déjà vu.”
Speaking directly to Japanese media after linking up with Japan’s squad for their latest round of international matches, Daizen was remarkably frank in his comments.
Daizen was asked, after his first training session with the Samurai Blue, why he had been late in meeting up with the team. His answer was shocking in one sense, and entirely unsurprising in another.
He said: "I received an offer. I had been telling the club that I wanted to take the next step, but Celtic hadn't been able to strengthen their squad properly, so in the end they told me they couldn't let me go."
There we have it, direct from the player himself. This isn’t mischief-making by The S*n or the Daily Record, this isn’t some rumor circulating on Twitter. This is direct from the player himself in his own words.
I think we can now safely say with some certainty, that the reason for the forward’s recent dip in form was indeed due to his being unsettled. I believe we can also conclude that, like Kyogo before him, he’s out the door in January for sure, and probably for a reduced fee, since he’ll only have 18 months left on his contract by then.
Where this is different though, is that, while a similar situation played out with Kyogo last summer, both player and club managed to keep it in-house.
Of course, from a fans perspective this made the shock of losing one of our best players all the more sudden and unexpected, and it also highlighted the incompetence of the Celtic Board, that no-one was lined up to replace him. Indeed, 9 months later, we still haven’t replaced Kyogo.
So, for the next 3 months we can look forward to having one of our main players playing on despite the fact that he knows, Celtic know and we know that his days at the club are numbered.
I don’t think for a second that Daizen will give anything less than his absolute best for Celtic over the next few months. He is too much of a professional to do otherwise. However, even subconsciously, knowing that straining that extra inch to reach a ball, or committing fully to that 50/50 tackle could scupper your dream move to one of Europe’s big leagues, can we really blame Daizen if his recent poor form continues?
And where does this leave Shin Yamada?
He’s just been frozen out of the European squad, but come January he may well end up as our first-choice striker, out of necessity.
I don’t believe Daizen said these things to be snarky or to hurt Celtic. However, it is yet another utter humiliation for the club on top of what seems to have been an endless barrage of embarrassments over the past few weeks.
Things need to change, and they need to change now. The cat is out the bag, Celtic must plan for a future without Daizen Maeda, and that planning must begin right now.