{"id":250920,"date":"2026-01-18T09:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T09:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/250920\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T09:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T09:39:09","slug":"peter-grant-states-what-daizen-maeda-wont-do-in-his-career-again-even-if-he-leaves-celtic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/250920\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Grant states what Daizen Maeda won’t do in his career again, even if he leaves Celtic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This time last season, Daizen Maeda was about to go on a crazy goalscoring run for Celtic ahead of Kyogo Furuhashi\u2019s exit. <\/p>\n

Given Celtic\u2019s<\/a> striker troubles, Martin O\u2019Neill could do with that right now because a lot has changed in these past 12 months.<\/p>\n

Whatever happens during the January transfer window<\/a>, you sense that this will be Maeda\u2019s final season at Celtic<\/a> ahead of a summer exit.<\/p>\n

Celtic simply won\u2019t allow Maeda<\/a> to leave in the winter, but whatever he does, Peter Grant<\/a> thinks the Japan star has already hit the ceiling. <\/p>\n

At what price would you consider selling Daizen Maeda? <\/p>\n

\"DaizenPhoto by Dean Mouhtaropoulos\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc47 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say <\/p>\n

\"DaizenPhoto by Dean Mouhtaropoulos\/Getty ImagesPeter Grant on Daizen Maeda scoring 33 goals for Celtic<\/p>\n

Maeda won Scotland\u2019s PFA Player of the Year<\/a> for the 2024\/25 campaign, scoring 33 goals in all competitions and winning two trophies.<\/p>\n

But Grant told Go Radio<\/a> that the all-action forward won\u2019t hit those numbers in his career again. <\/p>\n

On several occasions, one thing that has constantly been thrown at Maeda is that he \u2018isn\u2019t a number nine\u2019, even after hitting such a goal streak.<\/p>\n

Grant stuck by that again, even though Maeda has proven to be an \u2018outstanding\u2019 player for the champions of Scotland<\/a> over the years.<\/p>\n

Paul Cooney: \u201cIs it time for Maeds to go? 33 goals last season. Player of the Year. With strikers, it\u2019s like goalkeepers. People always remember the key moments. The great save. The brilliant goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Kairat Almaty. If he had scored (the one-v-one chance), then it would have been different this season. We will never know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant: \u201cPeople say, \u2019(33) goals last season.\u2019 Yeah, we know that. But as I can say, I can swear now, I don\u2019t think that will ever happen in his career again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are saying he got (33). He could have had 54 or 64, with the number of chances he had. That\u2019s no disrespect. He was outstanding last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis work ethic, which you expect from any professional footballer, was outstanding. But he isn\u2019t a number nine, for me. Celtic need a number nine. A proper number nine.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohnny Kenny, I am not sure, he will still get his chances in a game. But he becomes the number nine for Celtic, who you have to score with your chances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always said, a good Celtic number nine would get four in six. Celtic don\u2019t have that, at this moment in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maeda\u2019s career goals by season <\/p>\n

Throughout Maeda\u2019s tenure in Glasgow, he has proven to be a nightmare for the opposition, without consistently having that cutting edge in front of goal. <\/p>\n

This is a player who has performed in two countries during his career \u2013 Japan and Scotland- and he has hit double figures five times in his career. <\/p>\n

Season 15\/16: 1 goalSeason 16\/17: 13 goalsSeason 17\/18: 7 goalsSeason 18\/19: 2 goalsSeason 19\/20: 7 goalsSeason 20\/21: 23 goalsSeason 21\/22: 8 goalsSeason 22\/23: 11 goalsSeason 23\/24: 10 goalsSeason 24\/25: 33 goalsSeason 25\/26 (up to Jan 17): 8 goals Join Our Newsletter <\/p>\n

Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This time last season, Daizen Maeda was about to go on a crazy goalscoring run for Celtic ahead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[31522,61,60,125693,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-250920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-daizen-maeda","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-peter-grant","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}