Daizen Maeda is a Japan-born footballer who plays as a forward for Celtic as a primary left-winger. Born on 20 October 1997, the player measures 5ft 8in in height and weighs around 10st 9lb. The forward carries the number 38 on his back and has a history of representing his national side, Japan.
Maeda's standing in the market currently hovers around £6m (Transfermarkt). His contract with Celtic is set to run out on the 31st of May 2027, leaving a tenure of 2 years, 9 months as things stand.
In the Premiership 2024-2025 season, Maeda has made one appearance coming off the bench for Celtic. His involvement stretches to competitions including the 2023-2024 Champions League, 2024-2025 League Cup, 2023-2024 Scottish Cup, World Cup Qualifiers Asia 2024-2026, and 2023 AFC Asian Cup where he claimed a tally of four goals across three starts in the Scottish Cup alone.
Maeda's career in football dawned at Matsumoto Yamaga in the Japanese lower leagues back in January 2016. A year later, he saw himself loaned out to J2 League side Mito Hollyhock, only to return to Matsumoto Yamaga in January 2018 after his loan end.
In July 2019, Maeda found himself out on loan again, this time with Portuguese Liga 2 side Marítimo. August 2020 saw him transfer to J1 League side Yokohama F. Marinos for an undisclosed fee from Matsumoto Yamaga. Celtic acquired Maeda initially on loan in January 2022 and made the move permanent in July 2022 for approximately £1.4m.
His debut season in 2016 saw nine first team appearances for Matsumoto Yamaga. On loan at Mito Hollyhock in 2017, Maeda racked up 20 appearances, netting the ball eight times. Returning to Matsumoto Yamaga in 2019, he claimed two goals across eighteen appearances. His stint at Marítimo in Portugal saw him score three times across 23 appearances in the 2019-2020 season.
Maeda's first season at Yokohama F. Marinos saw a similar pattern with 23 appearances and three goals. However, his second season with the J1 League side in 2021 had him in superb form, resulting in 23 goals across 36 appearances.
Having joined Celtic in 2021-2022, Maeda maintained his form, hitting the net six times out of 16 appearances. He went on to score eight goals in the following 2022-2023 season from 35 appearances, and six in the succeeding 2023-2024 season in 28 appearances. In the ongoing 2024-2025 season at Celtic, Maeda has seen a single first-team start.
