Celtic captain makes brilliant Daizen Maeda claim after Killie goal | OneFootball

Celtic captain Callum McGregor has claimed that Daizen Maeda will not let a potential summer departure impact on his output for the Scottish Champions.

The Player of the Year last season scored his first goal of the season in the 2-1 win at Killie but speculation about his future has been rife, especially after he admitted that he had been eager to make a switch in the transfer window.

When asked if he thought the speculation would impact Maeda’s performance, McGregor dismissed this claim out of hand. Speaking to the media (via Record Sport) after the game, the captain heaped praise on the attacker and his mindset.

“He’s one of these characters that gives you 100 percent no matter what.

“He’s one guy you can hang your hat on that is going to give you 100 percent until the day he does move on. To be fair, I think everybody at some point expected that might be the case, considering he’s flown all the way across the world to play for this club.

“He’s been amazing for the team, he’s been amazing for the club, he’s done so well and I’m sure he’ll continue to do that as well.”

Maeda clearly enjoyed the goal and gestured to the Celtic badge as he celebrated. Despite ambitions to move, he will park these in order to ensure that he is performing well. It should be adequate notice for Celtic to get to work in the transfer window and hunt a replacement for the energetic attacking threat of Maeda.

Maeda attracted interest from Germany, which was well deserved but Brendan was unable to get adequate quality replacements into the building. This strikes at the heart of a lot of the criticism aimed at the club given that it had been made clear to the club behind the scenes that the player was wanting to make a change.