Yesterday’s Jota news should turbo-charge Celtic’s talks with Maeda.

Earlier in the week, the news broke that a number of English clubs are looking at Daizen Maeda. If anyone was surprised by that, they’ve been asleep, because Maeda’s form has been outstanding. And it’s not just that he’s doing the job—it’s how he’s doing the job.

It’s the totality of this man’s game; not just that he scores goals, not just that he lays on assists. He’s got a work ethic. He’s got a team ethic. Everything about him is quality, and that was never going to go unnoticed, no matter how long we might have hoped otherwise.

Part of it was the Champions League. Part of it was the massive lift we all got when he was cleared for the game against Bayern. We all know that was a huge moment for the team—it picked everyone up the second it was announced. His performances in the Champions League were excellent, and clubs were never going to fail to notice him. Munich identified him early as the major threat, and that’s a measure of the tremendous respect he’s generated for himself across the continent.

So the idea that clubs weren’t going to express interest in Maeda was ridiculous.

It was always going to happen.

The headlines are not unexpected—although they are unwelcome. But pretending they weren’t going to come is like pretending it’ll never rain in Glasgow again. We know how this works. It was inevitable.

We know Rodgers went to Desmond and said he wanted talks about the player’s future. We haven’t heard anything about those talks since, but it stands to reason that the club owes it to the fans—and to the manager—to reach out to Maeda’s people and try to get them around the table.

And that should happen before the summer, otherwise we’re in for an entire transfer window of constant anxiety over this. Because he is such an integral part of the manager’s plans, Rodgers has to know what the player wants, and he has to know what Maeda’s future looks like before he can start shaping his squad. That’s only become more pressing with the injury to Jota and the news we got yesterday about how long he’ll be out.

I think it’s inevitable now, with Jota out for that long, that Maeda will have to move back over to the left. I also think it’s inevitable that we’ll go out and try to sign a centre forward.

If we lose Maeda on top of Jota, that’s going to be very, very difficult. That’s going to make life extremely tough. And we’ll struggle to get back to the level we’re currently at. This was supposed to be a summer where the team could be improved. Losing our star man would really cast that into doubt.

There are certain events at a football club that create enormous uncertainty—but also jolt people who are half asleep into wakefulness and action.

The news about Jota should be that moment.

It should act like a cold bucket of water. Nobody should be asleep now. Everyone should be laser-focused on what the priorities for the summer are. And I cannot think of a more obvious or pressing priority than making sure the future of our top player is sorted before the summer even arrives.

Clubs will still be interested in the guy.

But if he signs a new deal, that’s a commitment to Celtic—and that will slow all the talk about him down to a crawl. Even the clubs who are seriously interested will have to accept that he’s committed to us, and that it will now be even more expensive to acquire him.

The pursuit becomes, if not futile, at least far less appealing. It won’t stop the media from speculating, but it’ll stop that speculation from reflecting anything grounded in reality.

Nobody—except maybe a handful of people in the media who are constantly craving something to write—wants to see this matter dragged out for the whole summer.

Even if it doesn’t end with the player leaving, it could unsettle him. It could unsettle others. It could mess with the manager’s planning. And so there are good, sound reasons to try and get a deal done now—to get things worked out before we go into a close season of rumour and noise.

Maeda seems happy here, but you never really know what’s happening behind the scenes. There’s been no change of agent, so no sign that he’s angling for a move. He seems like a very humble, down-to-earth lad who enjoys being at Celtic. And if he and his agents are amenable to sitting down and talking, then it’s pretty clear they should be sat down as soon as possible.

That’s what the manager wants—he’s said so publicly. But it’s also something the club now needs. It needs a lift in the aftermath of the Jota injury. And short of the boss himself signing on for three more years, I can’t think of anything that would give everyone a better one.