Maeda never shirks... and always plays for the shirt

CALLUM McGREGOR insists there was never a shred of doubt in the Celtic dressing room over Daizen Maeda's dedication to the cause.

- BY MICHAEL GANNON

The Hoops favourite looked destined to depart on deadline day and even emptied out his Lennoxtown locker.

And there was another bombshell when boss Brendan Rodgers revealed the attacker had made it known he wanted a fresh challenge back in February.

However, any chance of a move hit the skids on the final day as Celts got themselves in a knot in the search for a striker - leaving Maeda in limbo.

But it was business as usual as the frontman put in his usual power of work at Kilmarnock and popped up with a stunning diving header to open the scoring in Sunday's dramatic 2-1 win.

And McGregor, right, is adamant there was never any fear of the Japanese ace downing tools or taking the huff.

He said: "No, no, definitely not. He's one of these characters who gives you 100% no matter what.

"He's one guy you can hang your hat on that is going to give you 100% until the day he does move on, which to be fair, I think everybody at some point expected that might be the case, considering he's flown all the way across the world to play for this club.

"He's been amazing for the team, he's been amazing for the club."

Maeda is not the kind of player to throw his toys out of the pram, but he does his talking on the pitch.