Daizen Maeda. Motherwell v Celtic, 2nd February 2025. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou
Q: When you came back and were in Japan, Daizen played three or four games over there through the middle and you were quite excited about the prospect playing there and you thought you could get more out of him as a centre-forward. Do you still think that’s something that could work?
Brendan Rodgers: “100%. I actually can see a lot of more natural, instinctive striker movements that he has in how he plays the game. I think if you track back to when he came in, if you look back on your stats, I think you’ll see his numbers. From when he came in, from Yokohama, he was playing as a striker. He was up 23 goals in something like 33 games or something. The point is that I think probably in modern times, we would go through the tradition of a traditional number 9. But he’s a goal scorer. And he’s done it in Japan and now you see him doing it here.
Daizen Maeda of Celtic is seen during the UEFA Champions League training on January 28, 2025 in Birmingham. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
“Whether he’s wide or he’s through the middle, if you think of that hat-trick in Yokohama, when I played him up front earlier in the season, when Kyogo didn’t play, he scored two. It was the most pressing and penetrating runs that we had of any striker. Way above Kyogo’s levels, all penetration running. And he scored two and could have had more. So he’s a goal scorer. He scores a header like Henrik Larsson the other day. So I don’t think you can doubt, he might not do some other bits that other strikers will do and be a traditional number 9. But how I ask my number 9s to play and to run and set the game quickly and create space for other players, then I have absolutely no doubt that he can do that. I didn’t want to have to do that, but I know that’s something that we can use him.”
Daizen Maeda celebrates. Motherwell v Celtic, 2nd February 2025. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)
Q: He’s been so used to running away from the ball, I think you described it, but do you think he can get on going towards the ball and link-ups?
Brendan Rodgers: “No, I’d like them to play the space rather than the position. And sometimes the space is in front, so you set the game up. And if you don’t set up, you create space for the man. That’s why our wingers get so many goals. For me, I’m not precious around who scores. I don’t need the striker to score 40 goals because the wingers are getting three and four. The team has scored so many goals this year, I don’t know how many it is, but they’ve scored a lot of goals. And I’m not going to sleep worrying about whether the striker scored or not. As long as the team is scoring numbers and winning games. Strikers want to score goals, of course they do, but I’m very comfortable with whoever scores. And I think that he can do that from the side, from a central area, if required.”
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