Daizen Maeda has made a slow start to the season.
You wonder how much of that stems from Maeda wanting to leave Celtic in the summer, because the club didn’t allow a transfer to go through to the player’s frustration.
The thing with the Japan star is that nobody works harder or presses more aggressively than he does during their 90 minutes on the pitch.
So, when Maeda played like a lost soul before Brendan Rodgers’ departure, it was obvious for all to see that he just wasn’t himself.
But things have picked up for Maeda under Martin O’Neill, as he proved when Celtic beat Rangers in the League Cup semi-final at Hampden.
And now there is talk that he could head for the exit door when the January transfer window re-opens.
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Charlie Mulgrew backs Daizen Maeda to leave Celtic in January
Charlie Mulgrew isn’t surprised that talk of Maeda leaving in the winter has reared its ugly head again.
Speaking on Go Radio, Mulgrew doesn’t think Celtic should stand in the 28-year-old’s way, and instead allow him to go, as long as he ‘gives us everything’, which was clearly lacking during the opening months of the campaign.
“I think he wanted to go in the last window, so he is always going to be pushing to go in this window (January),” said Mulgrew.
“I think it’s easier if you give a player a carrot to say, ‘Right, you are here until January. If you want to go that much.’
“You don’t want to hold players against their will, so if he wants to go, ‘on you go. But give us everything you have got from now until January.’ And that’s fair enough.”
Maeda’s stats for Celtic this season
One thing fans would side with Maeda on is the fact that he is playing out of position, and being deployed on the right because Celtic can’t conduct a proper transfer window.
Put Maeda on the left on a regular basis, or down the middle, then the performance he displayed from January until the end of last season might just showcase themselves again.
- Maeda’s games: 17
- Starts: 13
- Off the bench: 4
- 90 minutes completed: 8
- Total minutes: 1,231
- Goals: 4
- Assists: 2
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