Celtic forward Daizen Maeda has delivered a glowing tribute to Ange Postecoglou as he stated his manager was the main reason he moved to Parkhead.
Maeda arrived in Glasgow in the summer after previous success during his days at Yokohama F.Marinos. The Japanese internatonal worked under Ange back in his homeland with the Celtic boss being the one who brought Daizen to Yokohama.
And he hasn’t been let down whatsoever since Maeda’s arrival in January either. The forward has been a key part of Celtic’s intense pressing game, notching 7 goals and 5 assists in 21 games [Transfermarkt].
He’s been speaking in an interview with Japanese outlet Number Web, where Daizen has lauded Ange and discussed the difficulties of Scottish football: “The main reason I decided to come here was because of coach Postecoglou. He is a very big part of my life. I always told him since I was at Marinos that I wanted to play abroad again, so I was willing to give it a chance.
“It is more difficult here than in Japan. Defenders are bigger, stronger, and faster. The pitch conditions are also different. And if you don’t score, you will be criticized a lot, and on the other hand, if you do score, they will say, “That’s great”.
The year on Madeira Island was amazing [with Maritimo]. It was an intense year – in life and in soccer. It was good to have that experience and I didn’t feel stressed when I came to Scotland.”
Daizen Maeda credits Ange as the main reason for his Celtic arrival
Many Celtic supporters will understand that Ange is the real driving factor behind the moves for J-League talents. He knows the league inside out and will have sourced emerging talent over there for years.
However, it shows just how great a man-manager he was in Japan too. That Maeda was happy to move to Celtic and totally change his life just to work with Ange again is a great credit for the current boss.
The respect that Postecoglou has earned over in Japan is absolutely fantastic. It may also prove to be a helping hand for Celtic whenever they decide to plunder the J-League for more talent in the future.
As for Ange’s man-management, that’s something that’s already been on show in Scotland too. After all, look at how settled the squad was last season despite there being plenty of players regularly out of the team.
If there have been any internal disputes, Celtic haven’t allowed them to get out into the public domain. The current squad appears to be extremely close with each other as a family feel has finally returned to the dressing room once again.
Maeda is a big part of that. And evidently, it’s all down to Ange.
In other news, Kyogo Furuhashi reveals his ultimate goal at Celtic; discusses Nakamura impact
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