This is a brilliant debate to have. Celtic have players in their team that have pace to burn at the club but John Hartson reckons that one of his former teammates is faster than all the players at the club.
TBR Celtic told how Daizen Maeda is one of the fastest players in Europe. UEFA stats place Maeda as the 4th fastest player in the Champions League ahead of Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Vinicius Junior.
In fact, only Karim Adeyemi, Marcus Rashford and Lois Openda are quicker than the 26-year-old winger.
Brendan Rodgers raised some eyebrows when he revealed this week that James Forrest is the quickest winger he has at the club.
The 32-year-old still has it in terms of bursts of speed so when this was put to John Hartson, the former Celtic hero was in no doubt that one of his teammates during the Martin O’Neill era would blow both of these players out of the water.
Hartson simply said [The Go Radio Football Show], “Didier Agathe would beat them both.”
Didier Agathe was an incredible player for Celtic
Celtic fans of my vintage will remember Agathe well. A £27k signing from Hibernian, Agathe was an incredibly fast player down that right-hand flank for O’Neill.
Agathe spent six years at Celtic and was an important part of the side that won Celtic’s first treble since the Jock Stein era.
The Reunion-born winger made over 120 appearances for Celtic picking up three league titles, three Scottish Cups and a League Cup.
Agathe was also very pivotal in helping get Celtic to the UEFA Cup Final in 2003 as his pace down the wing terrorised some of the best full-backs in Europe.
Agathe left Celtic in 2006 to join Aston Villa where he enjoyed just five games under Martin O’Neill and he retired from football in 2010.
In other news, Celtic predicted XI vs St Mirren: Brendan Rodgers gives 21-year-old his first ever home start