Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is thrilled to have Daizen Maeda available for the upcoming UEFA Champions League play-off clash against Bayern Munich.
The “extraordinary” forward, who recently netted a hat-trick in Celtic’s 5-0 Scottish Cup fifth-round win over Raith Rovers, was initially set to miss the first leg at Parkhead as he served the second game of a two-match suspension.
However, the Japanese star is now free to play after Celtic successfully appealed his ban.
The suspension stemmed from a red-card offence following a retaliatory incident late in a league-phase tie against BSC Young Boys on January 22.
"It's such a great bit of news that we got last night," Rodgers said. "He's an extraordinary player. I think how he's been this year for us, not just with goals but what his value gives to the team in terms of his pressing and his honesty to the game. So, to have that mentality and that ability available was a big surprise, but a nice surprise.
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"He's a good person and as a guy he's super professional. He comes in every day, does his work, does all the right things to prepare himself to be a top professional. He trains as he plays, so he's very intense and he gives everything in his training. He then takes that personality on to the field.
"So, he's been an absolute joy to work with. Just seeing him develop and grow over the course of the season. I think his ability in his finishing, but add to that the work rate and the intensity, he's been a really pivotal player for us.
"I think the player is maturing. He's obviously improved as a player with experiences and with comfort in how we work and how we play.
"But I can go back and I think he scored goals before he came into Celtic. Obviously Ange [Postecoglou] brings him in having worked with him in Japan so he knows his qualities, he knows everything in his game, and as I said he was a goalscorer over there. He's come to here, it may have taken a little time to get used to the Scottish game, the British game. But what you see now is he's right in the flow. He understands the physicality of the game in these parts of the world and the physicality required at the highest level of European football.
"He's well suited to that and now he's getting consistently into positions. I think what you have with him, his conversion rate is something that's improved. I think he's someone who has always had chances, he's been there. But he now arrives with confidence to score and a better technique with his finishing. It's top level.
"The coaches to a brilliant job with him in terms of the work and I try to inspire him and manage him, point out little things in his game. But he himself is a learner and he's learned very well."
