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naka to leave for free

Tuesday, 28 October 08, 12:15 PM

paradise

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan has slammed reports that Shunsuke Nakamura will leave in the next transfer window, despite the midfielder seemingly edging closer to a move back to Japan.

J-League club Yokohama Marinos, for whom Nakamura made his professional debut in 1997, will attempt to sign the 30-year-old midfielder in January ahead of their 2009 season. A Yokohama spokesman was reported as saying: "It's a matter of how soon we can get ready financially. "This will depend on when we get the nod from our parent company Nissan." But during preparations for Wednesday's Co-operative Insurance Cup quarter-final tie against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, the manager remained consistent in his appraisal of the situation. "It is the same statement as on Friday, the same position, nobody has mentioned anything to me and unless anyone tells me anything different to my face then I will refer you to Friday's statement. I had a long conversation with Naka on Thursday and he never said a thing about that. I can only deal with reality; I will leave it up to the rest to deal with the nonsense that goes with it “.

19/11/08 19:30	Doha	Qatar	-	Japan
11/02/09	TBA	Japan	-	Australia
28/03/09	TBA	Japan	-	Bahrain

As you can see there are another three world cup qualifiers to be played before the end of the season, with all the travelling involved, you can see why Naka fancies a move back home. The 30-year-old midfielder has hinted that an ongoing ankle problem could influence him to return to Japan with Yokohama earlier than expected, but he insists he wants to continue playing for as long as he can. “I have heard about these stories but it’s a question for my agent, I want to play football for a long time, but at the moment my right ankle is giving me problems. I have to get it heavily strapped before every game I play in. I want to be the best I can be and at the moment I am not able to do that right now. It’s frustrating”

I find it strange that we won’t let Naka go in the next window, no-one is doubting the man’s ability, but, his heart just doesn’t seem to be in it anymore. It’s never been his style to dominate games and his performances of late have not been of the standard that we know the man rise to, however, the ongoing injury would explain that one....... Ps –its only 590 days till the next world cup kicks off....bring it on.

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