Celtic told key player will leave if the club is offered ‘crazy money’ like Jota to Saudi Arabia

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Celtic have to be applauded for how they sold and brought back Jota.

During the summer transfer window of 2023, out of the blue, the Saudis came knocking for Jota’s services after they were on a huge spending spree of Europe.

Celtic ended up selling Jota for a club-record deal of £25 million to Saudi Pro League side Al Ittihad, and after a little trip to France in between, he was back in the green and white colours less than two years later.

Whilst Celtic would like to keep their key players, if the big money is put on the table, then they are open to selling, as they proved with Jota, and continue to prove, including with Matt O’Riley last summer.

That’s the conundrum those in the boardroom face ahead of this summer’s transfer window, as fans will be on the edge of their seats, worried about who might be sold next, because there is one obvious player starring them in the face.

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Celtic would sell Daizen Maeda for ‘crazy money’ like Jota to Saudi Arabia

Daizen Maeda was the PFA’s Player of the Year, and nobody came close to the Japan star, and he is one of the first names on the teamsheet.

There are suggestions that Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce want to sign Maeda, with a £9 million fee being mooted, but that will never happen.

Saying that, Peter Grant thinks that if a ‘crazy offer’ comes in for the all-action forward, then he will be sold, just like Jota moving to Saudi Arabia, as he told Go Radio.

“The only changes come if somebody comes in,” said Grant. “Like it happened with Jota, a couple of years ago. Something comes in that’s crazy, and that surprises you out of nowhere.

“I am not sure that will happen this year. The only ones, maybe Kuhn, because of what he did during the early part of the season. Maybe Hatate could be another one, yes, for sure.

“The Greg Taylor situation, they need to cover there if Taylor decides to go. It doesn’t look like Schlupp is going to be there.

“The big one would be Maeda. If Celtic got offered something crazy for Maeda. I think they would take it. I think they would (invest it wisely), and that would give you two strikers. That would work.

“They will get one striker, but if Maeda goes, then it will become two strikers. That’s the way football works.”

How was Maeda rated this season?

Up until the New Year, Maeda was putting in strong performances, but you would have given Nicolas Kuhn the title of the best player, at that time.

But, as Kyogo Furuhashi headed for the exit door in January, his fellow countryman started playing down the middle on a regular basis, and then the rest is history.

Maeda went goal crazy and proceeded to produce the best season of his career.