Rodgers must convince want-away Maeda to 'go again'

Brendan Rodgers says he has "known since the end of February" that Daizen Maeda wanted to leave Celtic.

But the manager believes the Japan forward will continue to give his all despite failing to secure a move away during the summer.

Maeda has scored 63 goals and contributed a further 30 assists since joining Celtic in 2022.

The 27-year-old told Japanese media last week he wanted to leave, but had a potential transfer blocked by Celtic before the deadline passed.

When asked about Maeda's comment, Rodgers said: "I wasn't surprised by that, because I've known since the end of February where Daizen was at.

"We spoke a lot and he's continued to give everything in his game and his training. He had a few options to go and it would have been great for him and his family in terms of his life, but it didn't materialise, so it's now my job to convince him to go again.

"I've done that with players before. I had Luis Suarez nearly at the end of my first season [at Liverpool] when it was deemed he was going to Arsenal. I had to convince him to stay and then he ended up having an amazing season and then after that went to Barcelona, so it's not new to my career.

"Players will have challenges but I think everyone sees the integrity in how Daizen works, how he plays. If I can reconnect all of that again then I'm pretty sure he will give his all."

Rodgers added that Celtic should have been in a position to grant last season's PFA Scotland player of the year his wish.

"I still feel that if a player does want to move on then we have to be prepared for that," he said.

"In this window we clearly weren't prepared for it. It just couldn't happen but my feelings are still the same.

"Especially if you've got a player who's been here for years giving his absolute all and he wants to have another challenge before maybe going back to Japan, then that was maybe the right thing for him.

"But certainly the position we were in and it being so late, we couldn't make that happen for him sadly."