When Daizen Maeda was chosen to lead the line for Japan at their opening match of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, there was a sense of widespread bemusement across Scottish football.
And it felt entirely understandable too, given that he wasn’t even the first-choice Japanese front man at his club. That honour, of course, fell to Kyogo Furuhashi, who had scored 13 goals in 16 games in an electric start to the season for Celtic.
Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu had a different perspective, however, and opted to omit Furuhashi from his squad for Qatar altogether.
Still, with the attacking talents of Kaoru Mitoma, Daichi Kamada and Ritsu Doan at his disposal, it felt as if Maeda was along for the ride as a decent bench option, to be brought into the action with his trademark zest to run at tired legs late in games.
Maeda had scored just five goals for Celtic at that stage of the season. Across his first 11 months in the Scottish game — following his January arrival from Yokohama F. Marinos — he had been an effective squad player, often contributing as one of Ange Postecoglou’s impact substitutes, and noted most of all for his tireless running, energy and workrate.
To put it bluntly, though, he was no one’s idea of an elite finisher, never mind a starting central striker in a major global tournament.
Maeda’s glut of goals since the sale of Furuhashi have seen him become Celtic’s main man
Maeda in action for Japan against Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer at the 2022 World Cup
Maeda’s brace of goals against Hearts at the weekend took his season’s tally to 30
How times have changed.
Saturday’s double against Hearts took Maeda’s tally for the season to 30, putting his name up there with some of Celtic’s most predatory strikers down the years.
With potentially nine games left this season, it’s not inconceivable he could overhaul Leigh Griffiths’ tally of 40 from season 2015/16 and become the club’s most prolific striker since Henrik Larsson.
As manager Brendan Rodgers put it after Maeda’s weekend brace against Hearts: ‘It’s not bad for someone who isn’t supposedly a goalscorer.’
Maeda’s recent numbers have been simply breathtaking. Since Furuhashi’s £10million departure to Rennes at the end of January, Maeda has scored 15 goals in 12 appearances for Celtic.
He has reduced £9.5m Adam Idah to a mere spectator and has put paid to the hopes of returning loan striker Johnny Kenny landing any serious game time.
Most striking of all, it was the noises emanating from the Bayern Munich camp during the Parkhead club’s Champions League near miss against the German giants that best highlighted the current reputation of the Bhoys’ buzzbomb in the European game.
Defender Cameron Carter-Vickers revealed that his former Spurs pal Eric Dier had told him the Japanese striker’s running stats had been pinned to their dressing-room wall, underlining the respect they afforded the 27-year-old.
The Japanese striker scores against Bayern and the German club’s stars left raving about him
Maeda scores for Japan against Croatia in a match they would cruelly lose on penalties
The thought of Harry Kane, Jamal Musiala, Leroy Sane and Joshua Kimmich all standing together, marvelling at Maeda’s heat maps and running stats as they plotted a way to keep him quiet says it all about his standing in the game.
Maeda’s impact on Rodgers’ squad planning has also been transformational. The Parkhead boss was castigated for his failure to bring in a direct replacement for Furuhashi in the January window and he had admitted that striker was a priority position going forward.
By the end of last week, however, Rodgers conceded his hand had been forced.
So effective was his new makeshift goal-getter, he would now be looking for fresh blood in the wide areas Maeda used to operate in.
‘I think it’s one where if we were to move him back onto the side and take him out of the middle — with all due respect, it’s probably easier for us to bring in a top winger than it would be a top striker,’ said Rodgers. ‘He can clearly play the position and I am so happy that he can.
‘I think what everyone is seeing now is his actual finishing quality. There is also a variety in his finishing.
‘He’s getting in to score his one-v-ones with left foot, right foot and headers. He’s got a real good repertoire of finishes.’
With such high praise and achievement now comes the promise of rich rewards. Maeda is contracted until 2027 but work has begun on a longer deal and improved terms, with Rodgers admitting the player ‘earns every penny and deserves more’.
Maeda jumps for joy after giving Celtic the lead in their 5-1 rout of Aberdeen in February
Leigh Griffiths was the last man to reach the 40-goal mark for Celtic, back in season 2015/16
Of course, Celtic remain susceptible to big bids for any player, and turning a tidy profit on Maeda would simply follow on from some of the remarkable transfer business the club have done in recent seasons.
But while you wouldn’t bet against them simply finding the next rough diamond and polishing him up into a saleable asset, it’s unlikely they will find another cult hero so easily.
Maeda is already destined to be remembered on a roll call of foreign heroes that would go something like Henrik, Lubo, Stan, Naka, Virgil, Daizen…
For now, though, Maeda will just be focusing on adding to his season’s tally. Perhaps he already has Griffiths’ total in sight.
In the immediate aftermath of the win over Hearts, Maeda said in an interview on CelticTV: ‘Yeah, it was an amazing game. I’m happy to score goals. Next game, I score a hat-trick, yeah.’
It was said in jest, no doubt, but the prospect of maintaining his current strike-rate could see Maeda enter a new stratosphere of status at Celtic.
In the club’s entire history, only eight players have scored 40 times or more across all competitions in a single season.
For Maeda to join a list that features Jimmy McGrory, Joe McBride, Bobby Lennox, Kenny Dalglish, Charlie Nicholas, Brian McClair, Henrik Larsson and Leigh Griffiths would be an astonishing feat — not least because he reached the turn of the year with just FOUR league goals to his name.
Maeda helps Tanaka celebrate after his goal put Japan 2-1 up in their victory over Spain
A dejected Maeda is consoled by former Celtic team-mate Josip Juranovic after Croatia defeat
Turning back time to Qatar 2022, Maeda saw an early goal ruled out for offside in that World Cup opener against Germany but didn’t enjoy the best of games overall.
It was only after he was withdrawn that Japan burst to life and stunned the four-time champions through goals by Doan and Takuma Asano.
Maeda was dropped for their next match, a shock 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica, but was back leading the line as the Samurai Blue stunned Spain 2-1 in one of their all-time biggest upsets to progress as group winners.
He then scored against Croatia in the last 16 before watching helplessly as his nation crashed out on penalties following a 1-1 draw.
By then it was clear this was a player who possessed an indefatigable spirit both in his style of play and his character.
On and off the field, he has taken knocks and had his abilities questioned.
This season, he has silenced any remaining doubters. But his work is not yet done. And nor, for that matter, is that of the statisticians and number-crunchers charged with keeping track of his remarkable goalscoring exploits.
