Celtic Star Won’t Down Tools – Ex-Striker On Bhoys Player | OneFootball

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Former Scotland striker Kris Boyd is convinced that Celtic hitman Daizen Maeda will never throw in the towel and is struggling due to the team being less functional than last year.

The Bhoys brought in Maeda from Japanese club Yokohama F. Marinos three years ago and he has been brilliant for the Scottish giants.

He has mainly played off the flank, but following the exit of Kyogo Furuhashi in the winter transfer window earlier this year, spent a significant amount of time up front last season and had a fantastic campaign.

Maeda scored 33 times and provided 12 assists in 51 all competition games, but this season, he is struggling with two goals and two assists in ten games.

There are question marks over whether he will continue up front, given the bright start of Celtic new boy Kelechi Iheanacho, who made an impact in the Europa League at Red Star Belgrade in midweek.

Maeda was linked with a potential summer move to Turkish club Fenerbahce, which ultimately did not materialise, but Boyd feels there is no malice in Maeda, as he is convinced that the Japan international will never down tools.

The former Scotland star feels that Celtic were clicking better in the previous campaign, stating that Maeda is just struggling.

“I don’t think he will down tools, I don’t think he is that kind of person”, Boyd said on The Warm-Up (2:41) about the Celtic striker.

“I think he is struggling right now, but if you go back to last season, you speak about a purple patch; it was a full season, he was unbelievable.

“And when you are confident playing in one position, you feel like as if you can play anywhere, and that’s probably where he was at last year.

“And the team was functional a lot more, [they were] better together.”