Soccer
Martin O’Neill is confident Kasper Hogh is up to the task of filling Daizen Maeda’s boots at Celtic as his club-record move to Parkhead edges ever closer.
Celtic’s swoop for Bodo/Glimt striker Hogh came in the wake of a 2-2 draw with AC Milan in their final pre-season friendly, with summer signing Camilo Duran impressing.
That result came just hours after Daizen Maeda, the scorer of 17 goals in all competitions last season, completed a £10m move to Premier League side Ipswich Town.
But Celtic have moved swiftly to secure Maeda’s replacement, with the Scottish Premiership giants reportedly agreeing an £11m fee plus add-ons for Hogh.
The 25-year-old netted 17 goals and provided five assists in the Eliteserien in 2025-26, and was also a key part of Bodo’s giant-killing run to the Champions League round of 16.
His five goals in the competition were the joint-most by a Danish player in a single campaign, going level with Nicklas Bendtner in 2009-10 and Rasmus Hojlund in 2023-24.
During that run, Hogh managed eight total goal involvements, the outright most by a player from Denmark in a single season in the Champions League.
“Without going too deeply into it, that’s the calibre of player that we’d be looking for, who has scored goals in the Champions League,” O’Neill said of Hogh’s imminent arrival.
“I’m hoping that players coming into the football club are of some sort of substance. I think that would be the exciting thing for fans.
“For most of the time that I was here last season, we struggled to score goals.
“Maeda came up brilliantly for us in the last six or seven weeks of the season, but we didn’t have that recognised striker. So that would be a big plus for us if we could do that.”
O’Neill was, however, sad to see Maeda leave Celtic, having been a huge part of their domestic double during his second interim spell last season.
The 28-year-old joined Celtic in January 2021 and went on to make 212 appearances for the club, scoring 79 goals and providing 39 assists, while winning 10 major honours.
Since making his debut for Celtic, only James Tavernier (100) and Lawrence Shankland (97) have directly contributed to more goals in the Scottish Premiership than Maeda (79 – 50 goals and 29 assists).
“Naturally, I will miss him,” O’Neill added. “He was in his last year of his contract. Before I came here, the club made him a real big offer, on our terms, at least 16 months ago.
“And the lad refused to do it in the sense that he wanted to play in the Premier League if he could, or the Bundesliga.
“So I will obviously miss him, but I’m delighted for him at the same time, genuinely delighted for him.
“He deserves the move because he’s been fantastic for the club.
“We will miss his presence around the place and Ipswich will be getting somebody that they will grow to really like.”
Celtic begin their Scottish Premiership title defence on August 3 against Dundee FC.
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