Celtic fans should be encouraged by the Maeda chatter. But we need more.

All of us, I think, have been looking for the same thing over the last couple of days and weeks—and that’s some sign that our best players are going to commit to the next campaign, and possibly even the one after that.

I think most people have a kind of settled position on the Nicolas Kühn situation—we’re now just waiting for him to confirm that he’s going to go. I hope he stays. I don’t expect him to.

Maeda is a different matter entirely. He’s going to be far harder to replace than Kühn and, given that he can play in two positions, losing him would mean signing two players to replace him, not just one. And I don’t think we could be sure of getting as good a player in either role. So, keeping him has to be a key priority, and right now we’re all just waiting for some sign he’ll sign a new deal.

Needless to say, I’m much more optimistic about that than I am about the idea that Kühn will commit and stay long-term. Maeda does seem happy here. He does seem committed to the cause. And the fact that Rodgers has gone to Desmond to try and get him to stay is no surprise to anyone—because it’s Desmond who, along with Rodgers, will have to sit down with the player and get a new deal over the line.

I’ll talk more about the manager tomorrow, but the signs are increasingly good when it comes to Daizen himself.

He’s talking the talk—very much like a guy who intends to be here and is looking forward to the challenges ahead. His social media posts are all positive. They all point to the coming campaign. They all suggest he wants to get ready for it. And that’s as good as it’s going to get until he actually puts pen to paper. But he certainly doesn’t come across like a guy who’s planning to go anywhere.

Of course, you just never know with this stuff. This is the public face we’re seeing—the private reality might be a little different. But Daizen has never struck me as a footballer with a case of superstaritus. He’s not a prima donna. He’s not arrogant. He’s humble and down to earth. He likes to share the credit. He buys into the team ethic completely. And he seems to have genuine affection for the club.

He’s not a glory-seeker. He’s not chasing headlines or driven by ego. If he’s motivated by money, it’s only in the way that any of us are—he wants a comfortable life. And he’s not going to be short of that regardless of what decision he makes.

I think sometimes we put too much emphasis on cultural generalisations, but he comes from a culture where there are more important things than personal possessions and the accumulation of wealth.

So, I really do think we’ve got a good chance of keeping him.

But talk is cheap. Nobody will breathe that big sigh of relief until he signs. And you’d hope it happens sooner rather than later. Although if it happens at all, we’ll be equally pleased. It would be nice to bring an end to the chatter. Nice to cut through the noise and actually know where his future lies as far as the coming campaign is concerned.

I’d also like to see us get a deal sorted for Reo Hatate and keep him at the club beyond the summer. Now, those two players have very different situations, but I think Reo is happier at the club than he has been in a long time.

Rodgers wasn’t all that impressed with him to begin with and wanted him to work on certain aspects of his game. The fact Rodgers keeps selecting him—even when he’s not fully on form—strongly suggests to me that he’s pleased with the progress and values him much more than he did at the start.

If we can keep those guys, I think we’ll be in good shape. The reports that clubs have yet to express any serious interest in Carter-Vickers—and that they wouldn’t be encouraged even if they did—are also very welcome.

There’s been a lot of speculation about him, as we all know, but the word coming out of the club is that we have no intention of doing business.

And that the player himself is content at Celtic Park, with no real wish to move south of the border just to chase the money.

As regular readers will know, I’ve resigned myself to the likelihood of losing at least one first-team player, and I would have been surprised if we lost more than that. But the positive noises from Maeda, and the similarly positive vibe around Carter-Vickers, suggest we’re not looking at a full-scale rebuild.

There will be a fair bit of turnover. There are players leaving the club who’ll never return—hopefully that entire Mark Lawwell transfer-window intake can be shown the door. But in terms of the core group Rodgers has been working with over the last two years, perhaps we’re not going to lose more than two.

And two is something we can work with.

I’m sure the club is still working hard behind the scenes to sort out Daizen’s contract. It wouldn’t immediately kill off the stories about him or the links to other clubs—no one’s daft enough to think the media wouldn’t keep churning those out—but it would, at least for a while, put a stop to the more insidious rumours that pop up when there’s uncertainty.

So let’s hope it gets done. Let’s hope we get the clarity the manager needs. Because that’s when he can start focusing fully on the positions he actually does need to strengthen, so we can hit the ground running when hostilities commence.

As I said earlier, I think this is going to be a tougher campaign than the last one—and not because of any so-called Ibrox “resurgence”. It’s because teams think they’ve stumbled on a formula that works against us, and they’ll be trying it every chance they get. We’ll need to break them down. We’ll need to find new ways of beating the low block and the deep defence.

And Maeda, above all else, is the sort of player you want for that fight. He is a warrior. And that, if nothing else, is reason enough to want him here well beyond the here and now.