DAIZEN MAEDA CELTIC TALKS PLANNED: WHAT IS LIKELY TO HAPPEN?
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- Sep 12
- 4 min read
Better late than never I suppose.
It took the indignity of having a player publicly speak to the media in his home country about his unhappiness with his treatment, but it seems Celtic will finally sit down with Daizen Maeda for talks.
Something which, I think most of you will agree, should have happened months ago.
But what exactly will these talks involve, and how is it likely to impact the player and the team in the short-term?
Let’s discuss.
Is a Daizen Maeda Celtic Contract Extension Still Possible?
I mean, never say never, but Daizen Maeda extending his Celtic contract beyond its current 2027 expiry seems highly unlikely.
The Japanese star has made it clear he wants to move to “the next level”. Unfortunately, the limits of the level Celtic, under their current structure, can reach were made abundantly clear in painful detail in Kazakhstan a couple of weeks ago.
It would appear, putting it diplomatically, that the current goals of the player, who at 27 years old is at his peak, and also wants to force his way into the starting line-up for Japan at the World Cup next summer, and the objectives of the club no longer align.
Anyone who has watched Daizen Maeda, Celtic’s top scorer last season, will know that his work rate and commitment are beyond question.
However, as we saw previously with both Matt O’Reilly and Nicholas Kuhn, even when a player is trying their best, speculation and impending transfer movement are bound to unsettle a player and affect their performance.
Some have raised the prospect of benching Maeda for a few games, to help him get his head together, and recover his hunger. I understand the logic behind this, but I have to say, I don’t agree.
Firstly, even with his current dip in form, Maeda is an indispensable member of this Celtic team. His ability to play as both a forward and a left winger is vital to our campaign until we can get more reinforcements/replacements in the next transfer window, which is still 4 months from now.
So, whatever happens, I don’t think we need to worry about Daizen “downing tools” as it were.
Like I said when this initial story broke last week, the scenario now is very similar to what happened with Kyogo last summer.
The player wanted to leave last summer, made it known to the club and Celtic couldn’t let him go until January. Kyogo continued to give his very best for Celtic right up until the end, despite obviously wanting away.
The World Cup next summer complicates matter here however. The obvious option for Celtic would be to do whatever is necessary to pacify the situation until January, then offload the player, ideally to the same club that wanted to sign him last month.
However, Maeda will also be available of how badly Kyogo’s move went in January of this year, and utterly tank whatever fading chance he had of getting back into the international set up.
Daizen is, at this point, pretty much a cert to be part of Japan’s squad. However, he is not a guaranteed starter for Japan, something he will want to remedy.
Now, if he gets a move to a big club in one of the top 5 leagues, then he may well still go in January. However, if Celtic are still in Europe, and have notched a few decent wins in the Europa League, Daizen would probably be better off staying until the summer.
However, this might not suit Celtic. By next summer, Daizen will only have a year left on his contract. Celtic’s best chance to maximize our return on the player was this past summer.
We’ll still get a decent fee in January, but by next summer, we’re only 6 months away from Daizen being able to sign a pre-contract with another club. His value will plummet, unless Japan have an outstanding World Cup and he plays a major part.
Of course, there is the possibility of a Stan Petrov scenario. You’ll recall that Petrov signed an extension to his Celtic contract even though he was planning to leave the club. This extension ensured that Celtic maximized the fee they received when Petrov inevitably signed for Aston Villa.
The difference here though, is that it sounds as if Celtic’s communication with Maeda throughout the final stages of the last transfer window was poor. The trust isn’t likely to be there.
If Celtic said to Maeda “sign this extension and you’ll get your big move next summer” I think Maeda would be within his rights to say: “Well, how do I know you won’t just back out again at the last minute?”
I think the most likely scenario is that Maeda goes next summer, after the World Cup. However, Celtic’s Board may try to force a deal through in January to maximize the fee.
Whether or not they get away with that will depend on a number of factors:
How far ahead are Celtic in the League by January (is there still a challenge to face)?
Are we still in Europe?
Do we have a genuine replacement lined up?
And perhaps most importantly of all: what is the make-up of the Celtic board room at that time, and the status of the newly birthed Celtic fan movement for change?
Maybe Brendan Rodgers will shed some more light on this later today.
