Daizen Maeda has eclipsed Nicolas Kuhn as Celtic’s best player this season as one leading pundit admitted he would be ‘absolutely shocked’ if teams aren’t sniffing around the attacker.
The Japan international is having a stunning season in front of goal and backed up his Raith Rovers Scottish Cup hat-trick with a close-range Champions League strike against Bayern Munich to give Brendan Rodgers’ men hope going to Munich. The tie stands at 2-1 to the Bundesliga giants going into the return clash – with Maeda notching his 22nd goal in all competitions and fourth at Europe’s top table after the club won their appeal against his ban ahead of the Parkhead first leg.
Record Sport columnist and Rangers hero Barry Ferguson has revealed the AGE of Maeda shocked him as he thought he was in the same bracket as Kyogo while he also named the key factor in his game that has went up levels in recent months. A report emerged earlier today stating that EPL outfit Newcastle United ‘scouted’ Kuhn during Wednesday’s match in Glasgow’s east end – and Fergie admits he would be stunned if Maeda wasn’t one clubs were also keeping a close eye on.
He told Go Radio: “I would be absolutely shocked if teams are not looking at Maeda. I was surprised on Wednesday night when it was mentioned he was 27. I thought he was actually Kyogo’s age at 30. So he’s just coming into his prime.
“I think the improvement in him over the last three or four months has been unbelievable. We all knew about his running power, his work rate in terms of going forward and doing the dirty side of the game. I actually think his quality in the final third has went up a couple of levels.
“When he gets into the positions he looks so calm now. 1 on 1 with the goalkeeper, if a defender is putting him under pressure, he used to snatch at things but now he just looks composed. We were talking on Wednesday night that Kuhn has been Celtic’s best player but I think Maeda has overtook him this year.”