"Celtic need to be careful this season with what they do." That's Aiden McGeady, and he's not wrong. Daizen Maeda is closing in on a £10 million move to newly-promoted Ipswich Town, and the warning signs are already familiar.
Celtic will receive £8 million up front with a further £2 million in performance-related add-ons — not bad return on a player signed from Yokohama F. Marinos for £1.3 million when Ange Postecoglou brought him over from the J-League. The math works. The football problem is trickier.
A selling club doing what selling clubs do
McGeady, speaking to Football Fan Cast, wasn't shy about the structural issue underneath the transfer. "Celtic have got an amazing model, they have had for a number of years, but too often it's been a case where they let players go without bringing replacements in. We've seen that when they let Adam Idah go and they never had a replacement in."
That pattern matters beyond sentiment. Maeda had a year left on his contract and wanted Premier League football — so the move was coming regardless. But Celtic under Martin O'Neill now need to replace a striker who, even in a patchy season, showed up when it counted. "Towards the end of the season he was fantastic," McGeady added. Scottish Cup final goals tend to live long in the memory.
The Ipswich angle is interesting too. A newly-promoted side spending £10 million on a Celtic forward suggests they see Maeda as a genuine top-flight operator. His pressing, his movement, his goal record over three seasons — it translates. Whether it translates in the Premier League is the open question, and it's one that could affect his add-on value for Celtic.
The Zurawski comparison
McGeady reached back to frame Maeda's profile: "I don't know if you remember Zurawski? He is quite similar to him I think. Very quick, presses well, alive in the box but technically, you wouldn't say he was fantastic, but will score goals." Maciej Zurawski won a league title with Celtic in 2006. The comparison is affectionate but also precise — a player whose value came from relentlessness rather than elegance.
That kind of profile is replaceable in principle. In practice, Celtic have form for not replacing it in time. Anyone pricing up the Hoops for domestic honours next season should factor in whether Martin O'Neill moves fast enough in the window — or repeats the Idah mistake all over again.
