After a catastrophic transfer window, Celtic have been left woefully short in attacking areas.
This summer, Nicolas Kühn and Adam Idah have been sold to Como and Swansea respectively, after scoring 21 and 20 goals last season, while Jota remains sidelined until around Christmas, due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered at Tannadice in April.
Wingers Michel-Ange Balikwisha and Sebastian Tounekti have both arrived from Royal Antwerp and Hammarby while, having failed to sign a striker on deadline day, Kelechi Ịheanachọ joined as a free agent, after his contract with Sevilla had been mutually terminated.
Thus, Celtic supporters are certainly concerned about their side’s lack of attacking firepower, but they still boast a “physical beast”, signed for just £1.5m, now worth more than their number one centre-forward target.
What Kasper Dolberg would've brought to Celtic
With Idah left in limbo ahead of his move to Swansea, completing a medical in South Wales before being forced to wait, Celtic chased a replacement, with Kasper Dolberg their number one, and seemingly only, target.
They had multiple bids rejected by Anderlecht for the 27-year-old and, as it transpired, he never really wanted to move to Glasgow anyway, instead re-joining Ajax for €10m (around £8.6m), six years after departing the Johan Cruijff Arena.
The Danish international has had an up-and-down career, enduring elongated barren periods, while also showing semi-regular glimpses of brilliance.
After underwhelming spells with Nice, Sevilla and Hoffenheim, he got back to his best at Anderlecht, scoring 44 goals in 96 appearances for the Purple and Whites, including five goals to start this season, four of which came in UEFA qualifiers, netting against BK Häcken, Sheriff Tiraspol and AEK Athens.
He also remains a reliable presence for his national team, taking his tally to 12 international goals when Denmark hammered Lithuania 5-0 in Odense in June, most notably on target three times during the knockout phase when de Rød-Hvide reached the semi-finals at Euro 2020.
Global Football Rankings believes the Jupiler Pro League to be the sixth-strongest division in the world, with the Scottish Premiership down in 27th, one place below the Ecuadorian Serie A, so the fact he scored 24 goals last season suggests he would have bagged plenty of goals in Scotland, but do the Celts already boast a more valuable attacker?
Celtic's superstar attacker
The bedrock of Ange Postecoglou’s successful two seasons in charge of Celtic was his exceptional recruitment, especially in the Japanese market.
From the likes of Kyōgo Furuhashi to Reo Hatate, it’s safe to say their Japanese contingent have enjoyed a fabulous time in Paradise. Yet, there’s one who has arguably eclipsed both of them.
Indeed, the £1.5m paid to sign Daizen Maeda from Yokohama F. Marinos very much looks like a bargain now.
Last season was undoubtedly Maeda’s best since arriving in Glasgow, named PFA Scotland Players’ Player of the Year, with his former coaches labelling him a “machine” and a “physical beast”.
He scored 33 goals across all competitions, thereby joining illustrious company. As the table outlines, not since Henrik Larsson has a Celtic player scored 30+ goals in back-to-back seasons and, well, Maeda potentially wanted to prevent himself from changing that fact.
Daizen Maeda
2024/25
33
Kyōgo
2022/23
34
Dembélé
2016/17
32
Griffiths
2015/16
40
Commons
2013/14
32
Hooper
2012/13
31
McDonald
2007/08
31
Hartson
2004/05
30
Larsson
2003/04
41
Larsson
2002/03
44
Larsson
2001/02
34
Larsson
2002/03
53
Larsson
1998/99
38
The 27-year-old is currently away on international duty with Japan, coming off the bench as the Samurai Blue drew 0-0 with Mexico in Oakland on Saturday night, set to see more action against the United States in Columbus on Tuesday.
While away, he confirmed in an interview with Gekisaka that he asked to leave Celtic this summer, stating: “I had an offer and had consistently communicated to my club that I wanted to take the next step in my career. However, Celtic ultimately couldn’t secure the necessary reinforcements and told me they couldn’t let me go”.
Given all the other upheaval at Celtic this summer, as well as the lack of incoming activity, losing Maeda on top of all that would’ve been unthinkable, but it is far from ideal that he is publicly stating his disappointment at not moving on, looking to increase his importance in Hajime Moriyasu’s squad ahead of the World Cup.
Should he depart at some point, the Hoops would make a huge return on investment, given that Football Transfers estimates his value to be around £12m, just above Dolberg’s value of £11m.
For now, Maeda remains in Glasgow, and will be front and centre as the Celts target a fifth successive Premiership title, also looking to make a deep run in the Europa League, commencing the league phase against Crvena zvezda in Belgrade later this month.