Celtic hit Jackpot with an elite star

After a lot of hype and anticipation, Celtic Champions League clash with Bayern Munich Ultimately ended up in a defeat.

On Wednesday night at Parkhead, despite the late rally, the hoops were closely beaten by 2-1 Bundesliga leaders in the first part of their tie, leaving Brendan Rodgers‘The side of the elimination side as they move in the Bavaria next Tuesday.

Still, many of the most impressive Kelt players brought to an attractive appearance, with one of the Ange postecoglouThey buy the finest when his stock is still growing.

Japanese Celtic connection

When postecoglou was named Celtic manager In the summer of 2021He is barely anyone on the whole Western hemisphere ever heard of him.

Aussie had a big job on his hands upon his arrival, given that Bhoys finished a whopping 25 points behind the Rangers before the season, withstanding the first campaign without a trophy for more than a decade.

Outside the field, without football director In place, he was in charge of running a recruitment, and 14 players arrived during that first summer, replace Ten who leftIncluding Scotta Brown, Odsnene édouard, Kristoffer Ajer and Ryan Christie who made 1,121 performs for the club between them.

Many of Postecoglou’s signatures were burning successes, but his knowledge of the Japanese market really came to the fore.

After winning the J1 League title with Yokohama F. Marinos, Ange convinced the Celtic slab to sign the Vissel Kawa Kyōgo Furuhashi striker for £ 4.5 millionAnd what kind of job he would show.

Kyōgo scored a hat-trick on his home prime minister’s debut against Dundee, in bags 16 goals in the first half Since his first season at the club, including Bracs during the final victory of the Cup League over Hibs, and his influence, in a business sense, would basically prove to be a proof of the concept, as followed by the Japanese appearance.

Six months after the arrival of Kyōga, Another trio of Japanese players joined him in Glasgow, namely Yosuke Ideguchi, Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda In January 2023, before next season, Yūki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwat were signed.

So, now that Kyōgo headed for Stadeu Rennais, another of Japanese contingent really came to the fore and proved to be an exceptional value to sign money.

Celtic -O’s current best player

Daizen Maeda’s head against Bayern Munich this week, after he took off on Saturday from the Scottish Cup on Saturday, took off on Saturday 22 goals for the seasonas well as 51 for the club Total.

After being previously against Slovan Bratislava, Borussia Dortmund and Club Brugge in the league phase, Maeda became the first Celtic player since then Joe Craig 1977/78 to achieve four or more goals in one European Cup campaign.

IN Intervention yearsMo Johnston, Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton, Kenny Miller, Georgios Samaras and Moussa Dembélé all reached three; Adam IdahThe last opportunity to join his teammate at four is likely to come Tuesday at the Allianz Arena.

Considering that Maeda has now scored 11 goals at all competitions from boxing day, right back Alistair Johnston Described him as “One of the most important players in Europe” while Analyst John Walker He praised his “elite pressure and speed of work.”

Speaking Premier Sports’ Scottish Football Social ClubFormer midfielder Hearts and Hibs Michael Stewart notes that Maeda has “reinforced the level” in recent weeks, adding that he has become a “top class”.

So, let’s compare the Japanese forward with some of the other top Celtic attackers in the last decade.

As shown in the table, Maeda is a statistics comparable to the whole best forward in the past decade, which is impressive given that it is predominantly distributed in the outside.

After he signed for only £ 1.6 millionTransfermarkt believes Maeda is worth now over four times That, £ 7m, which proved to be one of the best editions for the best values ​​in recent years.