Daizen Maeda: The Everton target who Brendan Rodgers thinks is best in the world in one area

Daizen Maeda has been linked with Everton this summer, and his former coaches don't have a bad word to say about him.

With Everton scoring just 47 goals in the Premier League last season, bolstering his team's firepower is firmly on David Moyes' transfer agenda this summer.

The Toffees are understood to have reached a £24million agreement to sign Tyrique George permanently, whilst Hayden Hackney also arrived from Middlesbrough to boost their threat in midfield.

Maeda, 28, would bring more experience to Everton's forward line, with the Japanese international scoring 79 times and providing 38 assists in 212 games for Celtic.

However, he's only contracted with the Glaswegian outfit until June 2027, meaning now might be Celtic's final chance to bank a healthy fee for the forward.

Should Everton indeed bring Maeda to Hill Dickinson Stadium, then Toffees chiefs have plenty of reasons to feel confident he would be a highly impactful addition to Moyes' squad.

Brendan Rodgers has raved about Daizen Maeda's pressing

South Korean outlet Chosun have recently reported that Everton are taking an interest in signing Maeda this summer, with Moyes said to be looking for a versatile forward.

The Celtic star certainly fits that bill, as he's capable of operating either through the middle as a traditional number nine, out on the flanks as a winger or even as a number 10 behind the main striker.

Maeda moved to Celtic on an initial loan deal from Japanese side Yokohama F.Marinos in January 2022, before signing at Parkhead permanently the following summer.

It was Ange Postecoglou who brought him along shortly after his appointment as manager of the Scottish giants, and the industrious attacker has since established himself as a modern-day Greens legend.

Brendan Rodgers would eventually return as Celtic boss in the summer of 2023, and would remain there until October last year, working with Maeda for two-and-a-half seasons.

Speaking in an interview via BBC Sport in September 2024 after Celtic had just beaten Slovan Bratislava 5-1 in the Champions League, Rodgers made a big claim regarding one particular aspect of Maeda's game.

"It starts at the front (keeping clean sheets). And I would doubt there's anyone better in world football than Daizen Maeda in that context (pressing defenders).

"It's the will and desire to do it, which most players won't have. He could have easily dropped that press. He didn't have to do that one.

"He actually got to the centre-half before the guy that should have got there. It's incredible - it's unbelievable pressing. But that's mentality."

Maeda's ex-Yokohama coach calls him 'machine'

His success at Celtic has been what's put Maeda's name on the footballing map across Europe, but his talent was of no secret to those in his homeland prior to his Glasgow move.

In his final season with Yokohama F.Marinos, he netted 23 goals and provided three assists from 36 J.League appearances.

Upon his initial loan move to Celtic in January 2022, fans and Scottish media alike were keen to learn as much as they could about the Greens' new signing, desperate to know if his skillset would translate to the Scottish Premiership.

And so, speaking in a 2022 interview with The Scottish Sun, Maeda's former coach and Postecoglou's old number two at Yokohama, John Hutchinson, sent Celtic supporters into an excited frenzy with how he described the attacker.

“I have never seen a more physical player, in terms of speed and repeat sprinting, than Daizen," Hutchinson said at the time.

“Daizen is a physical beast. You’d have no issues sending him anywhere in Europe because it won’t be a problem to him.

“He’s a machine. The improvement in him over the last season or so under Ange was incredible."

Hutchinson also gave a glowing review of Maeda's character, which if the testimony of what he'd bring on the pitch to Everton wasn't enough to get Toffees fans excited, this certainly will.

“He’s a gentleman, a really great professional who trains so hard every day."

Moyes will have taken all this into account already, but Everton could be onto a real winner that nobody else is expecting.