Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers backs Daizen Maeda to quickly recapture form

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers believes Daizen Maeda showed the personality needed on Sunday to get back to top form after a “challenging summer”.

Maeda revealed during the international break he had hoped to leave before the transfer deadline but a proposed move was blocked because the club were unable to source adequate replacements.

The Japan international only scored once in the first seven games of the season and missed Celtic’s best chances in each of the goalless legs of their Champions League play-off defeat by Kairat Almaty.

But Scotland’s player of the year was back on target in Celtic’s 2-1 win at Kilmarnock on Sunday, netting with a diving header before grabbing the badge of his shirt and celebrating in unusually passionate fashion in front of the Hoops supporters.

Rodgers told Celtic TV: “I think it’s been a real, challenging summer for him. Maybe he felt naturally that his future was going to be elsewhere.

“But I think we can all see from that personality and that humility he has that it probably won’t take him long to get back to play how everyone knows him: playing 150 per cent, working, pressing, and always being there for the goal.

“He’s such a great guy. Whatever the summer brought, it’s gone now, and for him now it’s just about doing the very best he possibly can.”

Maeda and his team-mates turn their attention to continuing the defence of the Premier Sports Cup when they take on Partick Thistle at Firhill on Sunday.

Rodgers is delighted to be heading back to Maryhill to face Mark Wilson’s side, who sit third in the William Hill Championship.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “I have actually missed Partick Thistle. I used to enjoy going there for games when I was here the first time.

“I don’t know whether it’s because I live close by to it or not, but it just felt a real, traditional football stadium, and with the history of Partick up here in Scotland. So I have missed it.

“I went there towards the end of last season for one of the finals with the B team. That was my first time there for a few years. So I am really looking forward to going back.

“Mark will have his team well organised and they will be very, very hard to beat, so the onus is on us.”