As a young player at Japanese minnows Matsumoto Yamaga, the Hoops attacker was sent on loan to Maritimo in 2019
It’s easy to forget that Celtic wasn’t Daizen Maeda’s first European port of call.
Some Parkhead punters might not even be aware that before arriving in Scotland from the Far East, the star had tried to crack it in Portugal.
As a young player at Japanese minnows Matsumoto Yamaga he was sent on loan to Maritimo in 2019.
Maeda had a season in Madeira before being sent back to Asia and eventually signing for Yokohama Marinos – where he would encounter Ange Postecoglou.
The Aussie coach was so impressed that he signed Maeda for Celtic and the rest is history.
The 27-year-old has excelled under Brendan Rodgers this season in the Premiership and Champions League, having bagged 31 goals so far.
He’s a certainty to win just about every Player of the Year award going. And today at Hampden he will play his part in trying to get Celtic into the Scottish Cup Final and to the cusp of a domestic Treble.
But looking back, that spell in the Portuguese top flight might just have been the making of him.
At 21 it must have been an eye-opener for Maeda arriving from Asia but he received help in the shape of club skipper Zainadine Junior.
The Mozambique centre-back took Maeda under his wing and has followed his career ever since.
It won’t surprise Celtic fans that, even back then, his boundless energy awed his Maritimo team-mates.
What they won’t want to hear is that Zainadine feels the same way about Maeda now as he did back then – that he’s destined for England’s Premier League.
In an exclusive interview with MailSport, the 36-year-old gave an insight into Maeda’s short but impressive Portuguese stint.
He said: “You could see Daizen had a lot of qualities when he arrived at Maritimo. He was very fast, with good technique, really strong and capable of scoring goals.
“It was difficult for him at first. It was his first time in Europe and as captain I helped him. Back then at Maritimo he was the same as he is now.
“He liked to run! At training he probably ran too much for the other players in the team. But all of his team-mates loved him because of his work rate.
“He was a great team-mate. We wanted him to stay. When he had to go home, all the Maritimo players were saying: ‘Maeda, come back.’ I always believed one day he’d come back to Europe and play well.”
Maeda made 23 appearances for Maritimo during that campaign, scoring three goals against Braga, Santa Clara and Tondela as the club finished 11th in the Primeira Liga
Zainadine Junior was alongside him in all of those games and liked what he saw in the Japanese import.
Now he can only watch him on TV for Celtic where he has been a stand-out in the Premiership and Champions League this term.
And Zainadine believes top English sides will now have Maeda firmly on their radar. He said: “I watched him in the Champions League for Celtic and he’s playing very good football. I’m happy because hopefully I played a very small part in his career.
“For me, he’s a player who is capable of going to the Premier League. I’m sure English clubs will now be looking at him. And I mean the best clubs in the Premier League. Because Daizen has become the best player at Celtic now.”
Rodgers hasn’t just improved Maeda as a player at Parkhead this season – he has transformed him into a prolific, pressing centre-forward.
Previously, he was viewed as a wide player at Celtic and Zainadine Junior revealed he was rarely thrown up front at Maritimo.
Even so, he could sense a natural scoring instinct. But for the Mozambique international, it wasn’t just Maeda’s quality as a player he admired.
He was just as impressed by his humility as a person too. He said: “At Maritimo, Daizen played most of the games wide in midfield but sometimes as a striker.
“He didn’t play up front too often for us. But I’m not surprised he’s there now for Celtic and scoring lots of goals. It was clear he could do it. He probably did too much running. But he scored some goals for us and did well.
“He was a really good guy in the dressing-room. He liked to laugh and joke – but at the right time. He is a simple guy, which is what I really liked about him. They are the best type of person.”
Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport’s newest podcast, Game On, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.
