Craig Moore has revealed how Rangers turned their nose up at signing Daizen Maeda before he became a Celtic revelation, branding the decision to snub the Asian market “absolutely bonkers”.
The former Ibrox star, part of the legendary nine-in-a-row Light Blues side, is close friends with fellow ex Rangers defender Kevin Muscat who was assistant to Ange Postecoglou at Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan where Maeda was a star.
Postecoglou was in for the J-League ace after becoming Hoops boss but Muscat had given Moore a glowing reference of the player and he pitched him to then Rangers recruitment chief Ross Wilson. However, Moore said they weren’t interested in trying to hijack Celtic’s bid for the international star.
That now looks to be a mistake given he cost around just £1.4million and has been a huge hit at Parkhead, including a frequent thorn in the Rangers side with some huge derby goals – and the winning spot-kick that inflicted penalty shoot-out misery on the Light Blues at Hampden in this season’s Premier Sports Cup final.
Moore says he touted Maeda for a Gers move around October 2021 – with the player joining Celtic two months later, initially on loan. Aaron Ramsey signed for Rangers during the same window.
Moore, who now works as an agent, branded his old club’s ignorance of the Far East market as “absolutely bonkers” and claims they didn’t want to shop in Japan during Postecoglou’s time at the Celtic helm because it’s where their rivals were recruiting talent.
Moore was speaking on the Go Radio football show and was asked when he offered Maeda to Rangers. He said: “I think it was maybe October 2021. I tried to get Ross Wilson on the bait! I said, ‘Listen, I know the player has been linked or spoken about with regards to Celtic. Kevin (Muscat) is one of my best mates and has given me an unbelievable rundown on this player and I think he’d be a great fit for the football club’.
“Ross came back and said they knew of the player and was sure Ange would know all about the player too. That probably wasn’t the answer I was wanting. I wanted to hear, ‘Okay, how do we do something and make that possible?’
“When I listened to Brendan Rodgers talking about him (during Tuesday’s press conference) it was like listening to Muscy all that time ago because the explanation and brief was exactly the same. He could have been at Rangers. Come on Ross Wilson, what you doing?
“At the end of the day, sometimes as an agent or pundit we think we have all the best ideas in the world that you take to a football club but I understand the process and never take things personally but I did think he would be a great option.
“The problem for me is that sometimes you have to be brave in your decision making. Ange, because of his experience in Asia, explored that market and Celtic backed him.
“It’s a relatively cheap market and still is. Rangers didn’t want to explore that because if Celtic were doing it, they didn’t want to be seen to be doing it and that’s absolutely bonkers. Just go and get good players for good value.
“I’ve said loads of times Asia isn’t known in this part of the world but there’s some unbelievable talent, there really is, and Rangers to this day aren’t set up to explore that.”