There is no stopping Daizen Maeda at Celtic.
The man from Japan continues to go from strength to strength and has arguably become the first name on Brendan Rodgers’ team sheet.
On Saturday evening, Celtic beat St Mirren 5-2 in an end-to-end game, with four different scores for the away side.
It pushes Celtic closer to the title – 16 points clear now – after Rangers lost Barry Ferguson’s first home game in charge to Motherwell.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  CelticCeltic | 29 | 24 | 3 | 2 | 87 | 17 | 70 | 75 |
| 2 |  RangersRangers | 29 | 18 | 5 | 6 | 59 | 26 | 33 | 59 |
| 3 |  AberdeenAberdeen | 28 | 12 | 5 | 11 | 36 | 44 | -8 | 41 |
| 4 |  HibernianHibernian | 28 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 42 | 39 | 3 | 40 |
At the hour mark, the scores were level and an upset was on the cards for Stephen Robinson’s men, who had come back from behind twice.
But then Celtic turned on the screws, including a goal of the day contender from Maeda with minutes left on the clock in Paisley.
Chris Sutton brands Daizen Maeda ‘Player of the Year’ in Scotland
Hyunjun Yang, who netted a brace off the bench, played a ball over the top and Maeda outfoxed his opponent with a ridiculous first touch to go past him, before slotting home.
Chris Sutton was lauding the quality shown by the running machine and how his first touch to set himself up for the goal was ‘absolutely magnificent’.
The former striker then added, ‘there is your Player of the Year in Scotland’, as he told Sky Sports Football.
“Magnificent Maeda,” said Sutton. “Never stops causing defenders problems.
“A hopeful ball in behind. He makes it his ball, Maeda. It’s clever the way he manoeuvres the ball onto his left foot. That’s a brilliant touch and then the finish.
“Can he stay calm? Can he stay composed? What a touch that is to set himself for the finish and that is devastating. There is your Player of the Year in Scotland.
“That touch there is absolutely magnificent, it’s probably something we don’t give him enough credit for, that awareness.”
Maeda numbers this season after Celtic beat St Mirren
For months and months now, everyone has been thinking and feeling that Maeda has been the main man in Scotland.
There was a period when Nicolas Kuhn was on fire – and he has still been outstanding – but Maeda has taken it to another level.
| Competition | Apps | Goals | Assists | Minutes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Premiership | 26 | 12 | 7 | 1.914′ |
 | UEFA Champions League | 9 | 4 | 1 | 762′ |
 | League Cup | 3 | 6 | 1 | 282′ |
 | SFA Cup | 2 | 4 | – | 180′ |
| Total 24/25: | 40 | 26 | 9 | 3.138′ | |
You could even argue that, ever since Kyogo Furuhashi left, his fellow countryman has just gone from strength to strength in green and white colours.
There are ridiculous numbers he is hitting and it’s set to get even better as the season draws to a close.
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