The Celtic player who is back to 2021 form - but he is braced for lean period

Daizen Maeda’s thoughts on his own form this season are ominous for the rest of Scottish football. The Celtic pocket-rocket terrorises defences with his energy, speed and high press and he has netted six goals so far this season. He feels he is back to the 2021 version of the Japanese that took the J-League by storm.

Maeda netted 23 goals for Yokohama F Marinos that year, a feat that persuaded then Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou to bring him to Glasgow. Utilised more as a wide player for the Premiership champions these days, Maeda has posted goal tallies of eight, 11 and ten in his past three seasons. Only in October, he is well on course to surpass those figures.

“When I was playing for Marinos, I was top goalscorer in that season - and I have a similar feeling compared to that,” Maeda revealed ahead of Sunday’s lunchtime clash with Ross County in the league. “Hopefully I can get as many goals as I can. There will, of course, be some period in the season when I can’t score. It will definitely come. I have to be patient in those moments and try to get opportunities to help the team.”

Daizen Maeda has scored six goals already this season. | SNS Group

Maeda is a softly-spoken, humble individual. He has shown no signs of slowing down this term. It’s all about the team for the man who turns 27 later this month. “I’m not overly thinking about numbers in terms of goals or assists,” he continued. “The most important thing is to contribute to the team winning.

“But if my numbers go up, it would be great. The most important thing, though, is the team. I think if I keep playing like this, scoring and assisting in every game, the numbers will definitely go beyond what I have done in previous seasons here.

“The numbers have been few for me and I want to get as many goals as I can. If the team is playing well, that’s the biggest thing for me.”

There is a high chance Maeda will contribute in Dingwall. Celtic have won every league match so far by a combined score of 20-0. They will need to dust themselves down from Tuesday night’s 7-1 thrashing by Dortmund, but Maeda has already moved on from the clubs German disaster - although it must be noted that Maeda was Celtic’s most proficient player and scored at the Signal Iduna Park.

Maeda netted for Celtic against Dortmund. | SNS Group

“Everyone is focused on Sunday’s game already,” said Maeda. “We have started training and preparing for that game and we can’t carry the result from Tuesday with us. We always focus on the next game straight away.

“Regardles of what people say, we must focus on that next performance. We must try to be dominant again, the way we have been this season. We keep our feet on the ground and we’ll try to do our best again. But we know, as a team, that this will be a difficult game on Sunday.

“Obviously we have a tiredness as we travel a lot - but you can’t use it as an excuse. We need to perform well on Sunday, especially after Tuesday night. We know our supporters also travel in numbers to all of these games. We have a lot of supporters coming to game again on Sunday. We have to make them happy and make them smile.”

Maeda has been doing plenty of that lately, and Celtic are back in their happy place of the Scottish Premiership. County could well feel the backlash.