Celtic striker Daizen Maeda has moved a step closer to the Parkhead exit by confirming his desire to play in the Premier League.

The Japan international is entering the final 12 months of his contract and manager Martin O'Neill has admitted that the player could leave this summer.

Brentford are among the clubs linked with Maeda, who might be joined in England’s top flight by Arne Engels, according to reports in Belgium.

As Celtic brace themselves for interest in their top stars, 28-year-old Maeda made no secret of his ambition to play south of the Border sooner rather than later.

‘Since I went to Celtic, I became interested in the Premier League,’ he said to the Japanese YouTube show Pivot. ‘I started watching a lot of Premier League games. I have a strong desire to play in the Premier League.

‘I watch all the games. When I was in Japan, I didn’t watch football at all. But when I went abroad, I was able to watch it in real time. So I naturally watched the Premier League.’

Some translations of the show suggested that Maeda had described this year as his best chance to move south and that he didn’t care which club he went to.

Asked to elaborate on his plans, the player who was crucial to Celtic’s league-and-cup double last season added: ‘I think the higher you go, the better you get.’

Maeda scored 33 goals for Celtic in the 2024-25 campaign and netted nine in his final seven matches of last season. He also scored for Japan against Sweden in the World Cup.

Celtic rejected a bid for him by Wolfsburg last August, but they now have more strength up front, having last week bought a proven striker in Colombian Camilo Duran from Qarabag.

O’Neill told reporters at the weekend that there was a ‘resignation’ around the prospect of Maeda leaving but he hoped the versatile attacker would see out the final year of his deal.

The Celtic boss, whose team will play Sporting Lisbon this evening as part of a pre-season camp in Portugal, also hinted that Engels and Swedish midfielder Benjamin Nygren could be departing the club.

Nottingham Forest had three bids for Engels rejected during the winter transfer window. Celtic booted out offers worth £14 million and £17m, as well as a package worth up to £25m shortly before the deadline.

But the Midlands club, who appointed Oliver Glasner as their new head coach last week, have retained an interest in Engels and are keen to be at the forefront of any bidding war.

According to Belgian publication Voetbal Krant, the club are ‘pushing hard’ to sign the 22-year-old midfielder and have submitted a 'first formal offer’.

It all adds up to a summer of significant change for Celtic, with Japanese midfielder Reo Hatate looking set to depart after falling out of favour.

O’Neill will hold talks with Callum McGregor after the captain switched agents in the wake of comments made over the club’s ‘ambition’.

They are also waiting to find out whether Kelechi Iheanacho will stay at Parkhead. 

The striker who arrived at Celtic last September on a one-year contract is now in talks with the club about a new two-year deal.

‘There's an offer there to him at this minute,’ said O’Neill. ‘So we'll see how that develops.’

Meanwhile, O'Neill has ‘dismissed’ from his thoughts any prospect of Jota returning to the team in the early part of the season.

The Portuguese winger has been out of action since April last year when he suffered an ACL injury against Dundee United at Tannadice.

He has been rehabilitating, mostly in Lisbon, since then and will return to Lennoxtown ahead of the new season, but he will not be close to match fitness until October.

O’Neill said there was no point in considering Jota’s first-team potential in the short term. ‘Until he's really nearly fit to play, I'm sorry, you just have to dismiss him in that sense. 

'I can't keep thinking every single day 'when is he going to be playing.' I have already dismissed him until Halloween perhaps.

‘But who knows how people come back. 

'I’m sorry, it’s rather cruel but you say you just have to leave it, he's not involved. I can't worry about something that might be three months down the line.’