Daizen Maeda was born in Osaka on 20 October 1997 (age 28) and came through in Japan before his move to Yokohama F. Marinos. His early loan spells gave him proper senior football rather than a tidy youth-team education, and by 2021 he had turned that development into substance, scoring 23 league goals in 36 appearances for Yokohama.
Celtic signed Maeda from Yokohama F. Marinos in January 2022, adding a forward whose value was never going to be measured only in neat touches. Primarily used from the left, he has become an important first-team player through pace, pressing and repeat running, with enough end product to stop the hard work becoming the whole story.
His Celtic spell has brought three Premiership titles, two League Cups and two Scottish Cups, with one further Scottish Cup runners-up medal. He remains part of the current side in 2025–2026, wearing number 38, and has made 36 league appearances with 14 goals this season. Across all competitions for Celtic in 2025–2026, he has made 53 appearances and scored 16 goals, while also playing seven World Cup qualifiers for Japan and scoring once.
His current market value is around £10m, according to Transfermarkt. Maeda’s career has moved from practical development in Japan to a productive Yokohama spell and then to sustained relevance at Celtic, where he remains a regular and useful part of the side.
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