DAIZEN MAEDA joins Celtic off the back of a season of 23 league goals seeing him crowned joint-winner of the J-League top scorer award.
It's clear from the statistics Maeda, 24, has an eye for goal, but his former coaches have detailed another attribute they reckon will terrify Scottish Premiership defenders.
Arthur Papas, who worked as Ange Postecoglou's No2 at Yokohama F Marinos, and John Hutchinson, who also coached with the Celtic boss in Japan, reckon Maeda's pace sets him apart from other players.
The former, now at Newcastle Jets, insisted Maeda's bursts of pace and sprinting ability is like "nothing he's seen". Hutchinson provided a similar assessment hailing Maeda as a "physical beast".
The pair reckon Maeda's world class trait will see him succeed in Scotland with Hutchinson also revealing Postecoglou got the best out of the attacker.
He told the Scottish Sun: “I have never seen a more physical player, in terms of speed and repeat sprinting, than Daizen.
“Daizen is a physical beast. You’d have no issues sending him anywhere in Europe because it won’t be a problem to him.
“He’s a machine. The improvement in him over the last season or so under Ange was incredible.
“He makes dangerous forward runs and scores goals.
“He will terrorise defenders in Scotland. If it clicks for him with Furuhashi up front, which I think it will, it will be frightening for the other teams.
“He’s different to Furuhashi in that he’s more all-action and powerful.
“We played him the majority of last season on the left wing, but when he gets in the box his first-time finishing is very good."
Papas, speaking to KEEPUP about Maeda's sprinting capabilities, added: “It’s like nothing I’ve seen.
“Daizen possesses athletic qualities far superior to most players at the professional level.
“His ability to repeatedly produce max speed efforts consistently would place him at the very echelon of the game right up with the best athletes in world football.”
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