Daizen Maeda has revealed he hoped to leave Celtic before the summer transfer window closed but a proposed move was blocked by the Parkhead club.
Last season's Scottish Premiership Player of the Year was eager to take the "next step" in his career after receiving a tempting offer from elsewhere.
Maeda, speaking while on international duty with Japan, said he was late in joining up with his country this week due to "club circumstances", with the transfer window closing on Monday night.
"I received an offer," Maeda told Soccer Digest. "I had been telling the club that I wanted to take the next step, but Celtic hadn’t been able to strengthen their squad properly, so in the end they told me they couldn’t let me go."
Maeda, who has scored 63 goals since joining Celtic in January 2022, had been linked with Brentford, but the 27-year-old refused to divulge if it was a Premier League club who tried to sign him.
"Personally, I had agreed, so I wanted to take on the challenge," he said. "The national team also delayed my joining, and I really asked Celtic until the last day, but it didn’t happen."
Maeda, who has another two years on his contract, has accepted that he will be remaining with Celtic at least until January.
"I’ve decided to stay at Celtic, so I want to do my best as a member of the team," the forward added.
The sale of talisman Maeda would have heaped further pressure on the Celtic board at a time when they are already under fire from their supporters after being deemed to have failed to adequately replenish Brendan Rodgers’ attack following the departures of Kyogo Furuhashi, Adam Idah and Nicolas Kuhn this year.
