Daizen Maeda has had a tremendous season for Celtic so far.
With 33 goals and 12 assists for Celtic, Maeda has been in tremendous form as he scores goals for fun not only domestically, but also on the continent in the Champions League.
The Japanese winger has taken up the goal scoring duties for Celtic ever since Kyogo Furuhashi left the Bhoys for Rennes.
And after he was awarded the PFA Scotland Player of the Year, Johan Mjallby wasn’t having any of it when he heard Alan Hutton’s valuation of Maeda this week.
Johan Mjallby sends Aston Villa a message after hearing valuation of Celtic hero Daizen Maeda
Maeda has been the subject of transfer speculation with Leeds said to be interested in the Celtic winger.
However, after Alan Hutton pitched a price for Aston Villa to jump in and buy Maeda, former Celtic defender Mjallby dismissed him with his own valuation of the Hoops talisman.
When asked how much Maeda is worth, Mjallby told The Scottish Football Social Club [15m], “I’m not an expert, but I would definitely say around £45-50m.”
Hutton replied, “I mean that’s that is top, top dollar. That’s big. I was thinking more like £15m high, touching £20m possibly.”
Host of the show, Darrell Currie replied, “Are are you serious Johan? Because £40-£50m, I mean, I don’t know, that’s unprecedented in Scotland.”
Mjallby: “Listen, I mean, I’m a Celtic fan so obviously I don’t want to see him go. But if Villa is going to show interest in him, Celtic is not daft enough knowing that Villa had a really really good run in the Champions League.
“They’ve got money in the bank. So listen it’s never ever going to be £15-£20m then it’s definitely going to be £25m plus.”
The plaudits awarded to Daizen Maeda after tremendous Celtic season
Maeda has been a phenomenon for Celtic ever since he joined the club in 2022. With 33 goals this season and on the verge of winning another treble, pundits and ex-players have been waxing lyrical about the Hoops winger.
Stephen Robinson hailed Maeda as an ‘absolute dream’ after he revealed what his Celtic teammates say about him in training.
Kevin Thomson said Brendan Rodgers has taken Maeda ‘to the next level’ at Celtic as he nears scoring his 50th goal under the current Hoops boss.
Even Neil Lennon has been forced into a re-think after the former Celtic boss ranked Maeda as the top signing out of Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi and the Hoops forward.
With just four games left in the season, Maeda has plenty of minutes left in the season to add to his goal tally and with the Scottish Cup final date closing in, Celtic fans will be hoping that he makes his mark at Hampden and help Rodgers lift the treble.
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