With Peter Lawell's return from South Korea this week, it is widely believed he has secured the long term future of Shunsuke Nakamura for Celtic and has had talks with representatives of the Japanese J League club Urawa Red Diamonds with the view of bringing their dynamic mid fielder Shinji Ono to Glasgow. Ono was part of the Feyenoord side that won the UEFA Cup in 2002 and was a fans favourite, but a string of injuries sidelined him for most of the 2004/05 season and after Feyenoord failed to progress in Europe we saw him return in January 2006 to Japan and his old club Urawa with a three year contract. Ono is a first choice member of Japans national team and made his debut at the age of 18 in the 1998 World Cup, and was a key member of the squad in the 2002 in Japan and South Korea. He has represented Japan at every level from under 16s onwards. A spokesman for Nakamura said that "Shunsuke would be very happy if his friend and countries Captain joined him at Celtic". A source close to Celtic said that If Celtic can bring the mid fielder to Glasgow then the club would grant Stan Petrov his request to leave the club before the start of the season. Peter Lawell stated this week that the club is actively pursuing at "near- saturation" it's efforts to make money in the likes of Japan and Poland and the signing of the like of Ono would give the club a even higher profile in the football mad country. www.cybertims.com | |
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