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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
David Irvine

Rodgers cites Celtic transfer miss as he confirms Maeda position switch

Brendan Rodgers has confirmed Daizen Maeda will move to the right wing against Hibernian in a position tweak for the forward.

The Parkhead boss admitted Celtic have work to do on the right of the front three after missing out on signing a replacement for Nicolas Kuhn in that position during the summer transfer window.

Maeda will shift over to the right wing role with Kelechi Iheanacho as the central striker and Sebastian Tounekti on the left of the front three.

"Yes, exactly that," Rodgers told BBC when asked if Maeda would move to the right.

"It was clearly the area we missed out on in the market, so a little bit of work to see what is going to work best for us.

"Kels is getting himself up to speed physically.

"We know Daizen can play in those wide positions well."


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"No, no, nothing just to freshen the squad," Rodgers told the BBC when asked about Yang's absence.

"Obviously, with the two guys starting, we may need another striker to come off the bench so Johnny comes in, Daizen plays and then we have another couple of wingers on there in James [Forrest] and Bali [Michel-Ange Balikwisha].

"So he just misses out this week.

"Johnny comes in, he has been training well and can effect the game."

Confirmed Celtic starting XI: Schmeichel, Ralston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Saracchi, McGregor, McCowan, Engels, Maeda, Tounekti, Iheanacho.

Subs: Sinisalo, Nygren, Balikwisha, Kenny, Bernardo, Murray, Forrest, Donovan, Tierney.

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