Could the Scottish Cup Final Have Been Daizen Maeda’s Celtic Farewell?

He lobbed a goalkeeper, lifted a trophy, waved a scarf at the Celtic end, and smiled like a man who knew exactly what this moment meant. If that was Daizen Maeda’s goodbye, it was one for the ages.

Celtic won the Scottish Cup in style at Hampden on Saturday, beating Dunfermline 3-1 to complete the double. And right at the heart of it was Daizen Maeda, coolly lobbing the goalkeeper for the opener, sending the Celtic end into raptures, and capping a season that – after a long, difficult middle stretch – ended in the most emphatic fashion possible. His 17th goal of the campaign. His ninth in his last seven matches. And, many of us suspect, his last in a Celtic shirt.

Martin O’Neill has been refreshingly candid about the situation. As O’Neill himself has admitted, Celtic may well have to sell Maeda this summer if a new deal can’t be agreed. The player has made his own position fairly clear too. Speaking about last summer’s blocked Wolfsburg move, Daizen said: “I had an offer and had consistently communicated to my club that I wanted to take the next step in my career.”

He continued: “Celtic ultimately couldn’t secure the necessary reinforcements and told me they couldn’t let me go. Personally, I had come to an understanding with the club. I’d been in constant talks.”

A promise broken, a family uprooted once more, a move to Germany shelved because the club couldn’t get their own business done. We all know that story. The locker had been emptied at Lennoxtown. The goodbyes had been said. And then he stayed – and ran himself into the ground for Celtic anyway. That tells you everything about Daizen Maeda’s character.

From 17 Games Scoreless to Larssonesque

It wasn’t all straightforward this season, and there’s no point pretending otherwise. Maeda went 17 games without a goal during a grim mid-season stretch. At times, he looked like a man whose mind was already elsewhere – and given what the club had put him through the previous summer, you could hardly blame him. Daizen’s mind seemed to have been elsewhere, and it showed.

Then something clicked. In the title run-in, when Celtic needed their players to stand up and be counted, Maeda was transformed. Three shots on target against Falkirk, two goals. One shot against Hibs, one goal. Two shots against Rangers, two goals. One shot against Motherwell, one goal. One shot against Hearts in the final league game, one goal. Clinical doesn’t cover it – that’s something close to surgical.

O’Neill, a man who doesn’t reach for that particular comparison lightly, called it “absolutely Larssonesque.” And he meant every word of it. You don’t invoke Henrik’s name carelessly at Celtic Park. The fact that O’Neill did says more than any statistic.

Cast your mind back to January 2022. Maeda arrived from Yokohama Marinos – two caps to his name, a J-League Golden Boot on his CV, and an Ange Postecoglou stamp of approval that meant everything in those days. He scored four minutes into his debut against Hibs. That bullet-train energy, that relentless pressing, that refusal to give a defender a moment’s peace – it was infectious from day one. Celtic paid around £1.3 million to make it permanent. Pound for pound, one of the great bits of business in the modern era.

He filled the void left by Kyogo Furuhashi’s departure when the club’s recruitment was, to put it generously, not at its finest. He stepped up, delivered, was rewarded with a broken promise, stayed anyway, and then dragged us to a league title and a Scottish Cup in the same breath. Kieran Tierney and Viljami Sinisalo have both spoken about what Daizen means to this squad – and listening to those lads talk about him, you feel the loss before it’s even confirmed.

What Happens Next

Reports have circulated linking Maeda with Premier League interest – clubs built around pressing systems and pace, exactly the profile he fits – while the 2026 World Cup cycle gives him every reason to push for a move to a top-five league. Celtic, having signed him for £1.3 million and developed him into a relentless, proven winner, would rightly expect a fee well north of £10 million. Whatever happens, this club should not sell him cheaply.

After the final whistle at Hampden, Daizen took the Scottish Cup in both hands, turned to the Celtic end, and waved it at us. Scarf around his neck. That smile. If that was his farewell, he gave us everything right until the very last second – and then gave us a moment to remember him by.

We’ve had a turbulent season, folks. From the chaos of Brendan’s exit, through the embarrassment of what came after, to O’Neill arriving and somehow steadying a ship that looked like it was going under. Maeda was there through all of it. Running, pressing, fighting, scoring when it mattered most. That’s not a squad player. That’s a Celtic man.

Enjoy him while he’s here, folks. And if Saturday really was the last time – thank you, Daizen. You were magnificent. Mon The Hoops.