Maed in JAPAN.. matured in PORTUGAL ..magical in SCOTLAND

IT'S easy to forget that Celtic wasn't Daizen Maeda's first European port of call.

- BY SCOTT MCDERMOTT

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.