Celtic have learned the 'substantial' fee that they would need to pay to sign Daizen Maeda from Yokohama F Marinos in January. 

The lowdown

The Hoops are looking to build upon the success of J-League import Kyogo Furuhashi, who is the joint-top scorer in the Premiership as it stands.

Maeda has enjoyed a prolific campaign himself, netting 22 goals in 35 league appearances to help his team to finish second in the table, and his links with Celtic now date back more than a month.

Journalist Stuart Hodge has described him as 'a good player with bags of ability [and] bags of pace', while Ange Postecoglou managed Marinos before he was appointed at Celtic, so he is certainly familiar with Maeda, who has played 50 times under the Australian.

The latest

The Daily Record's Scott Burns reported that Celtic are 'keen' on Maeda.

However, he added that the Hoops would need to shell out £3m or more to reunite him with Postecoglou in Glasgow, a sum the report described as 'substantial'.

The verdict

To put that fee into context, Celtic spent just over £20m in the summer and went above the £3m mark for three players - Furuhashi, Carl Starfelt and Liel Abada. That would suggest that Yokohama F Marinos' demands are not insignificant, but they should be manageable for the Hoops.

Postecoglou may view Maeda as a more reliable alternative to Giorgos Giakoumakis, who has been limited to just two Premiership starts since his arrival in the summer amid injury concerns.

The manager's argument might be that it is crucial to have dependable depth in forward areas, with Celtic potentially competing in the Europa Conference League as well as the Premiership and domestic cup competitions.

In other news, Kieran Devlin responds to yet another J-League rumour involving Celtic