Ex-Celtic favourite given stark EPL warning as £11million replacement given 'title winner' billing
Former Celtic hero given advice after £8million transfer.
Former Celtic hero Daizen Maeda has been warned he faces a whole new challenge following his £8million summer switch to Ipswich Town, with the Japanese international told he’ll need to fight for every goalscoring opportunity in the season ahead.
Maeda, 28, played a major role in Celtic’s dramatic title win last season, scoring eight goals in the club’s final six league games, including the crucial second goal that put them into a late lead against Hearts on the final day of the campaign. Scoring in the 87th minute, the Hoops went on to win 3-1, pipping the Tynecastle outfit to the Premiership trophy in the dying embers of the game.
A star performer since his arrival from Yokohama F. Marinos four and a half years ago, he brought down the curtain on his time at Parkhead last month after scoring 79 goals in all competitions for the club, winning 10 trophies in the process, in order to move to newly promoted English Premier League side Ipswich
Expected to make his full debut against Sunderland at Portman Road in this weekend’s opening game, Maeda has been warned that he’ll find chances much harder to come by this season, with Sky Sports pundit and former Arsenal striker Alan Smith warning him that he’ll need to hit the ground running when the campaign gets underway this Saturday.
“It’s obviously not going to be as easy,” Smith told BestBettingSites.co.uk. “You’re playing for a dominant team, creating chances, and you’re going to a side that’s got their backs to the wall for most matches, trying to keep the ball out rather than trying to score. So he won’t be getting so many opportunities, so much support.
“They’ve basically reconstructed their entire attack, so that’s got to all gel and come together. That understanding’s got to happen fairly quickly. But they’re certainly giving it a go. They certainly are. Liam Delap led the charge with goals last time. They’ve got a few to share the load now, and they’ll be hoping that can happen.”
Meanwhile, Maeda’s replacement, Kasper Hogh, has been labelled as a “10 out of 10” signing who can fire the club to a sixth consecutive title this season. The Danish international signed from Bodo/Glimt for a fee of £11million earlier this month and already looks the real deal, having scored a hat-trick for the club in a 5-1 demolition of Kilmarnock.
The 27-year-old looks like an inspired signing for the Scottish champions, and former Rangers and Scotland defender Alan Hutton admits he could be the difference-maker in the title race this season.
“Kasper Hogh is a player who can fire Celtic to the title, unfortunately for Rangers” Hutton said in an interview via BOYLE Sports. “He is an outstanding player. I saw him play for Bodo/Glimt in the Champions League and some of his goals and performances were top tier. It's a big fee and there’s a lot of pressure on him because Celtic and Rangers rarely spend that sort of money and I watched him in his first game against Dundee and he didn’t look sharp.
“He snatched at the chances that came to him and hit the side netting but he’d only been in the building two days before. It might even have been only one day and he was playing the next day so you have to give him a little bit of time to settle in. Against Kilmarnock, he was absolutely brilliant, and I don't just mean because of the hat-trick.
“He could have scored five but the way he linked up the play, whether it was one touch, spinning it around the corner, using his movement into the box, peeling away from defenders, pretending he's going front post, then going to back post. Everything about his whole game was a 10 out of 10 against Kilmarnock. So I think the Celtic fan base have already seen the best of him. That’s his level. Now it’s about consistency.”
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