Maeda vs Maeda

While I remain concerned that the season Daizen Maeda is having, combined with his age and duration of tenure at Celtic, may make it difficult to retain him this summer, doing so would not come without some complexities.

Alan and I have been unreserved advocates for Maeda to be played at striker for quite some time, including during Ange Postecoglou’s tenure. Brendan Rodgers has also preferred to play him on the wing, mostly, until less than two months ago. Oh my, what a two months it has been!

The goal of this column is to explore performance levels of starting strikers and wingers since Rodgers’ first arrival, and hopefully offer some context and insight into answering the following questions:

1. Has Maeda been better on the wing or at striker at Celtic?

2. How has he measured up versus his recent Celtic peer groups in both roles?