McDonald says 'homesick' Nakamura is Japan-bound

Published on Monday 15 June 2009 22:16

CELTIC striker Scott McDonald believes that out-of-contract Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura has left Parkhead for a return to J-League side Yokohama Marinos

McDonald, currently on international duty for Australia ahead of tomorrow's world cup qualifier against Japan in Melbourne, spoke to Nakamura last week, when Japanese football's biggest name confirmed his decision to leave Scotland after five years in the SPL.

"I spoke to Nakamura three days ago when he told me, that's it, as far as Celtic is concerned," McDonald said.

"He's decided to leave because he's homesick and he wants to return to Japan to play for his hometown team Yokohama.

"He didn't mention any other clubs but he's not going back to Celtic."

With both teams having already qualified for South Africa 2010, Nakamura didn't make the trip to Australia with the rest of the Japanese squad for the Socceroos showdown which will determine top spot in Group A of the Asia-Pacific Region.

Recent reports have suggested that Celtic's first Asian player is injured, but Japan coach Takeshi Okada insisted that Nakamura is merely being rested for his own good.

"Shunsuke is definitely not injured, he is very tired after a long season for Celtic, so we decided to rest him for our final World Cup qualifier (against Australia]," Okada said.

"I don't want to give him any advice (about which club he should play for] because Celtic have been very good to him and I don't want to upset anyone in Scotland."

The Japanese rumour mill suggests that Nakamura could head to Spain instead of to the J-League next season. The Japanese team's media officer Ichirota Fukushi said as much when asked for the lowdown on Nakamura's immediate post-Celtic plans.

"We don't know for certain what Shunsuke is going to do next because he hasn't said anything publicly in Japan," Fukushi said.

"But my understanding is that he's left Celtic.

"It's been mentioned that Espanyol are interested in signing Shunsuke and they might already have made him an offer.

"That's what the speculation is in Japan but nothing is confirmed.

"Shunsuke is the best player in the Japanese team so we don't have any objections where he plays his club football ."

But McDonald was surprised when Espanyol was mentioned as a likely destination for Nakamura's next career move.

"He never mentioned anything about playing Spain to me," McDonald said.

In addition to the interest from Espanyol, it has also been reported in both Japan and Spain that Atletico Madrid would be interested in the services of Nakamura.