Celtic legend blasts Maeda sale as truth comes out over controversial transfer

22 Jul 2026 08:43 BST | 4 min read

Suraj Radia | Editor

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Celtic legend Chris Sutton has criticised the club’s sale of Daizen Maeda after the fan favourite agreed to join Ipswich for just under €12 million.

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Maeda has been a key figure for Celtic since joining the club in 2022, with the Japanese international netting 50 goals in all competitions across the last two seasons.

Current ETV

Daizen Maeda

F (CL)

Celtic

Daizen Maeda

F (CL)

Celtic

ETV Range

€10.3M - €12.6M

Celtic reluctantly accepted an offer of £10m (€11.7m) from newly-promoted Premier League side Ipswich this week for Maeda, with the 29-year-old heading into the final year of his contract and keen to find a new challenge elsewhere.

However, Sutton took to social media to brand the transfer as a ‘bad deal’ for both Celtic and Maeda, in part due to his belief that Ipswich will be making a quick return to the Championship.

Posting on X, Sutton wrote: “😂😂😂 Maeda is worth much more than £10 million and will find himself playing Championship football the following season. Bad deal for Celtic and Maeda…”

Maeda had been vocal over his desire to move to the Premier League, even asking Celtic to lower their demands for him in order to secure a deal, and the striker will now get his dream, with a medical set to be completed this week.

Celtic in need of striker after Maeda and Iheanacho departures

Maeda’s exit will only compound Martin O’Neill’s need for a striker after the departure of Kelechi Iheanacho, who joined Turkish second-division outfit Bursaspor on a free transfer earlier this month.

© IMAGO - Kelechi Iheanacho left Celtic on a free transfer this summer.

O’Neill was keen to keep hold of Iheanacho after the 29-year-old netted some important goals towards the end of last season but Celtic’s option to extend his contract by one year was missed, allowing the forward to leave on a free.

Celtic had been hoping to re-negotiate fresh terms with Iheanacho but reports had suggested that the Nigerian international was demanding wages in excess of €50,000 per-week, which led to talks breaking down and allowing Bursaspor to pounce.

However, Bursaspor president Enes Celik rubbished talk of Iheanacho’s excessive wages and insisted his side had secured a deal for a €1.4m salary, averaging to around €25,000 per week.

“We have been in contact with Iheanacho for 40 days,” Celik said. “It was important to handle it in a way that was in Bursaspor’s best interests. Iheanacho has a guaranteed salary agreement with us of 1.4 million euros. We made a three-year agreement.

”There are players in our league who earn 2.2 million euros but are not even half as good as Iheanacho. We are also considering the club’s financial structure.”