Maeda, Butterflies and IQ

How best to deploy the pressing king? Out wide or central? Let the data decide, as well as an abundance of other factors.

It was a season for the ages. Daizen Maeda is the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) Players’ Player of the Year and contributed 33 goals and 13 assists as Celtic won the league, League Cup and managed a respectable Champions League campaign.

More importantly, he picked up 10 prestigious Bhoy of the Match awards from, errrr, me! This matched Ryan Christie’s 2019-20 campaign. The record over a season is 12 by Jota in 2021-22 and Matt O’Riley in 2023-24. Maeda was the man of the match in one in every five games he appeared in,

At 27 years old, Maeda has two years left on his contract. His next move is a vital one for his career. It will likely mark his peak wage earnings and coincide with his peak performance years. There is a decision to be made for Celtic, also. Maeda, off the back of a wonderful season, and given his contract situation, is likely at peak asset stage, whereby the club can maximise return on a player who cost £1.6 million from Yokohama Marinos in 2022.

Maeda’s combination of blisteringly quick movement off the ball, finishing capability, and elite pressing and work rate mark him as an attractive proposition for any front-footed team.

The 23-times capped Japan internationalist also has some pondering to do. He has a young family, appears settled in Scotland, appreciated by manager, teammates and fans alike. The Scottish Premiership appears to be no hindrance to him achieving international recognition. There is a World Cup next summer, and he is well placed to be part of it without uprooting kith and kin.

The objective here is not to propagate transfer speculation, however, but a review of performance over the season.

This season, he was pressed into striking duties after the departure of Kyogo Furuhashi to Rennes in January and the failure of the club to source a forward replacement. However, the serious injury to Jota meant he reverted to left wing, and Adam Idah was preferred as the main striker from May.

Maeda has primarily been utilised as a left-sided attacker at Celtic. 137 times he has started a match on the wing and only 21 started as a striker. In 19 matches, he has ended up as a striker after starting on the wing, and in only 12 games has he started and finished as a striker.

I mention all that as I do not have the time to split out each player’s contributions by precise position during a match. Therefore, the following analysis contains a health warning. Some striker play is included in the winger data and vice versa.