‘I would think he’d be getting interest’ – Brendan Rodgers says Celtic could face fight to keep top stars in the summer

BRENDAN RODGERS says Daizen Maeda is the blueprint for everything he wants a Celtic player to be.

The Japanese international, 27, has proven time and time again this season that there’s so much more to him than his electric pace and relentless energy.

Kenny Ramsay

Brendan Rodgers with star man Daizen Maeda[/caption]

PA

He scored two against Aberdeen at Parkhead[/caption]

With those two traits alone, he was already a frightening prospect.

But now hes continuing to show just how clinical he can be in front of goal too.

Maeda scored 11 goals in first full season at the club and ten throughout the following campaign.

The lighting forward has already beaten both of those tallies combined this season, with his brace against Aberdeen taking him to 25 for the term.

Four of those goals came in the Champions League too.

There are now fans claiming he is the out-and-out winner to be named Player of the Year already – an incredible turnaround given Nicolas Kuhn’s crazy start to the campaign.

And Rodgers has joined fans in praising the frontman, labelling him the “symbol” of his team.

He said: “He’s a symbol for our team and what I want in relation to I always want that intensity in the press.

“The press is everything for us.

“He sets the tone for the team and everyone then follows him.

“Central he can go that and obviously from the wide area as well.

“But he is a really wonderful symbol of how we play and work and I am delighted for him.”

Rodgers also admitted other clubs will be watching Maeda after he took his tally to 25 for the campaign.

Asked if he feared potential suitors would be eyeing Maeda – who has two years of his Celtic contract remaining – Rodgers confessed: “I would think he would be getting interest.

“I think a number of the players will because of their efficiency and their work.

“And not only that, they’ve done it at the highest level. If you’re doing it at a Champions League level, you’re showing you can do it on that stage.

“So if you’re scoring goals like he has, working as hard as he does, then of course that will always bring attention.

“But I also think the structure of the team really promotes his qualities.

“His first goal was wonderful anticipation to get onto it, and the second goal is what he’s shown a lot this season, where he’s in the areas we want him to be in after a brilliant cross by Ali Johnston.

“He’s deserving of everything he’s getting so far. And he’s developing as a football player.

“He shows that every day in training, that’s the beauty of it.

“At 3-0 up the ambition is there for the team. We want to score more goals, we want to create more.

“And he typified that.

“It was great for Yang as well, because he scored a wonderful goal.

“It was great combination play and he finds a really good pass and makes a really good finish.

“On the game, the result and the scoreline was very impressive.

“I thought that the first-half goals were very good but I wasn’t so happy with their pressing.

“It wasn’t quite right and that’s why we were a wee bit loose with the ball, but the mentality was there in the team to be clinical and I thought in the second-half we were much better.

“We played mostly in their half, suffocated the game and scored two more wonderful goals.

“So it’s a really pleasing scoreline against a team that found that wee bit of form again and have good quality players.

“One of the traits within this team is what I recognise as the resilience in them.

“Any moment this season when we’ve had a little bump, the mentality to come again has been there and that was what we had today.”

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