Japanese forward had deals on table - but move could not be sanctioned
Brendan Rodgers says it his job to convince wantaway Celtic forward Daizen Maeda “to go again” after the Japanese forward was denied an exit on transfer deadline day.
Maeda, 27, revealed last week that he wanted to leave Celtic in pursuit of a fresh challenge, but his exit was blocked due the club not being able to find a suitable replacement.
The Japanese has been with the club for four years and was last season’s player of the year. However, he has only netted one goal this term and Celtic boss Rodgers says he will manage the situation as he did while at Liverpool when his then star striker Luis Suarez was heavily linked with Arsenal.
Daizen Maeda was close to a Celtic transfer exit this summer.placeholder image
Daizen Maeda was close to a Celtic transfer exit this summer. | SNS Group
"I wasn't surprised by that because I've known since the end of February where Daizen was at,” said Rodgers. “We spoke a lot. He's continued to give everything in his game and his training. He had a few options to go and ones that would have been great for him and his family in terms of his life. But it didn't materialise.
“So it's now my job, now he's here again, to convince him to go again. And I've done that with players before. You know, I had Luis Suarez nearly at the end of my first season when it was deemed he was going to Arsenal. I had to convince him he'd stay and then he ended up having an amazing season.
“It's not new to my career. Players, they will have challenges. But I think everyone sees the integrity of which he works, how he plays and how I can reconnect all of that again, then I'm pretty sure he will give his all whilst he's playing.
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Rodgers said before that he would be happy to let players who do not want to be at Celtic move - but insisted Maeda’s situation was different given the inability to source a replacement.
"I still feel that - I still feel that if a player does want to move on and then we have to be prepared for that,” Rodgers added. “I think in this window we clearly weren't prepared for it. And yeah, it just couldn't happen.
“But my feeling's still the same. Especially if you've got a player who's been here for years, giving his absolute all and he wants to have another challenge before maybe going back to Japan, then that was maybe the right thing for him. But certainly the position we were in and being so late, we couldn't make that happen for him sadly.”