Daizen Maeda’s future at Celtic continues to be a huge talking point.
The 2024/25 season might have ended in a damp squib because Celtic were beaten by Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final.
But, in the overall picture, it was another successful campaign for Celtic, and Daizen Maeda was at the heart of it all.
Not only did the Japan international score 33 goals in all competitions, but he also found the back of the net on four occasions in the Champions League.
That led to Maeda winning the PFA Player of the Year, and with those rewards comes extra transfer scrutiny and worry that he could leave in the summer.
One club that has been mentioned quite a lot in recent weeks is Turkish giants Fenerbahce.
Celtic fans react to new transfer fee suggested for Daizen Maeda
Previously, a fee of around ‘£10 million’ was mentioned when talking about Maeda’s future, and it’s fair to say it didn’t go down well with the supporters.
But now, it has been suggested that Celtic’s starting point for Maeda is at ‘£25 million’, but once again, the fans aren’t happy and feel it’s too low.
Not only do the Celtic Park faithful want a higher transfer fee put on the 27-year-old’s head, but they feel he has performed so well now that he has become near-on irreplaceable, as they expressed on social media.
@TheParkheadF made it clear what needs to happen: ‘According to multiple reports in Türkiye this morning, Celtic have rejected Fenerbahce’s insulting opening bid for Daizen Maeda and told them it will take a minimum of £25m to sign him. Source: FFTV, Sözcü & NTV SPOR I think we need to keep him at all costs’.
@CBartholom578 isn’t happy with what Fenerbahce is initially offering for Maeda: ‘£8.4 million is a damn cheek. Hopefully, Maeda isn’t in any rush to move because we love him and he loves us. He needs to bide his time until reasonable bids upwards of £25m come to us. At 27, we have him in his prime’.
@Lothianno4 noted the injury to Jota: ‘Agreed – we certainly shouldn’t be putting any numbers out there. With Jota out long term and Jamesie a year older, we can’t afford to let Maeda or Kuhn go in the summer’.
@MildooWolf wants Maeda to extend his contract: ‘Not for sale even at £25m, he’s a complete one off and irreplaceable, we should be extending his contract not selling the leagues POTY’.
@CraigFairlie is another one who feels ‘£25 million’ is still too low: ‘£25m? What game do they want him for?’
@yellowpearler continued that theme: ‘£25m 😂😂😂😂’
@moximc says it would be disappointing if Maeda leaves for Turkey: ‘If DM wants top 5 league European football, we can’t stop him leaving. But I’d be very disappointed if he went to the Turkish league, & Celtuc are quite right to say that would take silly money’.
@Chr1s_C67 named the price for Maeda: ’40mil or more, gem of a player who we should fight to keep’.
@NotoriousInv wants the ‘£25m’ mark to be moved: ‘This 25m ceiling needs to be shifted for this boy’.
@Brendan29432073 thinks Celtic is a ‘more of a draw’ than Fener: ‘Why would he want to move to Fenerbache, surely there’s more of a draw playing for a club like Celtic’.
@seanhoopy thinks the PFA Player of the Year is in a ‘rare’ situation: ‘Rarely is a player not for sale, he is one of them unless it’s world spinning numbers’.
Jose Mourinho’s future at Fenerbahce is under the spotlight
Jose Mourinho is a popular man with the Celtic fans, but he has had a difficult debut campaign at Fenerbahce.
Galatasaray were crowned champions of Turkey again, winning the title by 11 points, and that’s why there is talk of Mourinho’s squad being bulked up.
But, despite the departure of the sporting director, Mario Branco, the man in the dugout is staying put, despite the rumours of him following suit, that’s according to Fabrizio Romano on DAZN.
You just wonder if that increases or decreases Fenerbahce’s chances of really pushing for Maeda, because the rumours aren’t going away.
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