Chris Sutton isn’t impressed by reports that Daizen Maeda is on his way to Ipswich in a £10m deal.
On the back of four and a half years at Celtic the Japanese forward has made it clear that he wants to move on.
Maeda has delivered incredibly for Celtic. Costing £2m he has won five SPFL titles, five other domestic trophies and scored in two World Cup Finals as a Celtic player.
He is also a player like no other. While others manage minutes almost every match from Maeda lasts 90 plus minutes of constant energy.
Replacing him will be a near impossible task. It won’t be done again for £2m.
During Monday the Maeda to Ipswich story gathered momentum.
The board have created this situation. 10m is plenty for a player who wants away and can sign for nothing in January for another club. Not as if this board will spend it on a decent replacement. Wish him all the best he’s done his bit since he arrived a few years ago ?
— OMMAR (@RAGINGBULL1984) July 22, 2026
Sky Sports are reporting the deal as a formality:
Ipswich Town’s £10m offer for Celtic forward Daizen Maeda has been accepted in principle.
It’s understood the fee is likely to be accepted, with just the structure of payments and add-ons to be discussed.
The Hoops have accepted that Maeda will leave the club this summer and have been making inroads on potential replacements.
The former hoops striker also covers the EPL for BBC Radio and the Daily Mail.
While he does favour Norwich over Ipswich that doesn’t fully cloud his judgement.
SUTTON WATCHES THE GOOD AND BAD OF MAEDA
Last summer Celtic left it late to sell Maeda then saw a deal to Wolfsburg fall through.
Maeda’s form hit a huge mid-season lull although he did finish the season spectacularly.
A July deal to Ipswich for £10m does seem like jumping at the first offer on the table.
News of that offer could flush out other interested club.
Whatever works it it looks like Celtic will be without one of their top players going into the new season.
Their Champions League Play Off tie is less than a month away.
Martin O’Neill has three competitive games to get his squad ready to qualify for the biggest club competition of all.
So far Celtic have made one signing while losing Kasper Schmeichel, Kelechi Iheanacho and Marcelo Saracchi. A fee reported to be between £3- 5.5m was paid to Qarabag for Camilo Duran.
Shouldn’t matter to the support how much Celtic receive from any transfer the money will just be hoarded anyway.
IRREPLACEABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So sorry to see him go – Thank You so very much Daizen !