Daizen Maeda confesses Celtic transfer rejection in the summer as he reveals his 'ultimate' Parkhead goal

Daizen Maeda admits he could have joined Celtic back in the summer - but rejected the chance to link up with Ange Postecoglou immediately.

The striker joined in January alongside J-League duo Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi.

And he's made his presence felt with five goals already to help fill the void left by countryman Kyogo.

Maeda was one of Postecoglou 's top targets and he has now revealed he wanted him even earlier.

But Maeda opted to stay behind in a bid to fire Yokohama F. Marinos to the J-League title.

He finished the season on 23 goals but Marinos finished some 13 points behind eventual champions Kawasaki Frontale.

And now he's out to make up for it and fire Celtic to a Premiership title.

He told the Celtic View : “I did have the chance to join in the summer, but I wanted to try and win the league with Yokohama.

“That didn’t happen in the end and I made the move to Celtic and I’m really happy with being here now and trying to contribute to the team.

“The ultimate goal is the league and if I can score lots of goals then that means I can help the team in that ambition.”