Celtic sold their homegrown Maeda for just £600k

Can Celtic go on and secure a sixth treble in just nine seasons?

A fortnight ago, the Hoops suffered only their third defeat of this Premiership season, gut-wrenchingly beaten 3-2 by Rangers at Parkhead, the visitors’ winner coming in the final minute of regulation time.

Despite this, after seeing off Hearts, they remain in control at the top of the table with only seven fixtures still to play, also through to the Scottish Cup semi-finals, set to face St Johnstone at Hampden, for a place in the final, on Easter Sunday.

So, while one Celtic attacker is having an astonishingly good season, this team would be even stronger had they been able to hold onto their superstar homegrown attacker.

The records Daizen Maeda could break this season

By heading home during the Glasgow derby, before adding a brace in Saturday’s 3-0 win, Daizen Maeda took his tally to 30 goals for the season, bagging 11 in his last nine Premiership outings.

Meantime, the Japanese international forward became the first Celtic player since Joe Craig in 1977/78 to score four times in a single European Cup or Champions League campaign, on target against Slovan Bratislava, Borussia Dortmund, Club Brugge and Bayern Munich.

Famously, Henrik Larsson scored 41 times across all competitions in the 2003/04 season, but how does Maeda compare to Celtic’s leading marksman subsequently?

As the table outlines, Maeda requires 10 goals from the remaining seven Premiership fixtures, and potentially two Scottish Cup ties, to equal Griffiths’ post-Larsson record of 40 goals in a single Celtic season; it’s certainly doable.

Regardless of whether he reaches that milestone or not, Maeda’s output has certainly skyrocketed this season, described by

current teammate Alistair Johnston as “one of the most in-form players in Europe” back in February.

However, did the Hoops have an even more valuable homegrown attacker on their books, that they somehow allowed to depart for mere compensation?

Celtic’s homegrown Daizen Maeda

Ben Doak joined Celtic as a kid from Ayr United, making just two appearances at senior level in hoops, handed his debut against Dundee United by Ange Postecoglou in January 2022.

However, after not signing a professional contract in Glasgow, he joined Liverpool in the summer of that year, the Reds paying a mere £600k in compensation.

He made just five senior appearances, totaling 247 minutes, during his first campaign on Merseyside, but has taken his game to a whole new stratosphere this season, loaned out to Middlesbrough in the EFL Championship.

Doak has scored three goals and provided seven assists in England’s second tier, with the 5 foot 9 speedster emulating Maeda – who is also of slight stature at just 5 foot 8 – in representing a blistering presence down either flank.

For all those initial highs, sadly, his season might be over, not seen since 25 January following surgery on his thigh, with manager Michael Carrick confirming he’s ‘gone back to Liverpool’ to fulfill his rehab.

Prior to this setback, however, Doak displays for Boro, as well as for Scotland in the Nations League, had earned rave reviews.

Journalist Henry Winter believes he is a “huge prospect”, radio presenter Ewen Cameron labels him a “superstar in the making” while Martin Watt of BBC Sport notes he is Scotland’s next ‘wonderkid’.

So, let’s see if Doak’s statistics underline what all the hype is about.

As the table outlines, Doak ranks highly for assists, chances created and especially dribbling, ranked fourth for progressive carries and first four carries into the opponents’ penalty area in the Championship this season, despite the fact 218 players have played more minutes than he has.

His performances on Teeside saw both Crystal Palace and Ipswich bid a reported £16m for his services in January, these bids and others were rejected by Liverpool, further indicating his soaring status.

Thus, Celtic must rue the fact they could not convince Doak to stay, because just imagine him and Maeda linking up.