La Liga - Nakamura chooses to move to Espanyol

Eurosport - Mon, 22 Jun 13:39:00 2009

Japanese star midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura has decided to move to Espanyol from Celtic as he prepares to lead Japan in next year's World Cup finals.

2008-2009 SPL Celtic Shunsuke Nakamura - 0

Nakamura's signature had been sought by the Spanish club and Japan's Yokohama Marinos as his contract with the former Scottish champions was to expire at the end of this month.

"We were told that Mr. Nakamura's mind had been split between Marinos and Espanyol," Yokohama spokesman Masanori Hakamada told AFP. "But he has finally chosen to play in the Spanish league which he has longed to join over the years."

"It is a disappointing result for Marinos but we wish him a brilliant career in the Spanish league as well as in the Japanese national team," he said.

Nakamura, who turns 31 on Wednesday, had initially expressed his readiness to re-sign with the Marinos, where he made his professional debut in 1997 and played until 2002 when he moved to Italy's Reggina before joining Celtic in 2005.

With his mastery of free-kicks, the left-footed playmaker helped the Glasgow side win and defend the Scottish Premier League title from 2006 to 2008.

Despite his long-time dream of playing in Spain, Nakamura has recently talked of returning to the J-League to ease the burden of travelling for international duty ahead of the World Cup and raise his children in Japan.

But the talks with Yokohama stalled, with Nakamura's side reportedly citing the club's "insincerity" over financial matters and requests for his appearances in club events before he signed a contract.

He badly needed a rest to nurse a recurring groin injury after the long European season coupled with the World Cup qualifying campaign.

Yokohama had offered him a two-and-a-half-year deal with an annual wage of 150 million yen (£950,000), compared with 1.2 million euros (£1.01m) contained in Espanyol's two-year deal, according to Japanese media.

"It is quite disappointing because we wanted to see him (Nakamura) play in the Marinos' uniform again," Yokohama president Masaharu Saito said.

"We were told that he wanted to test his potential at a still higher level," Saito said. "We hope he will do well in Spain and help upgrade the Japanese national team in the run-up to the World Cup finals."

AFP

Comment 28 - 47 of 47

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  1. Good luck Nakamura im afraid ive been AWOL for a bit­ actually from the 24th of May as i had a nasty­ skydiving accident+Celtic drew+Rangers won the league­ +so May was not my best month by a long­ shot!Unfortunately i took my 2 parachutes+decided to­ make a long weekend of skydiving+bought 20 jump tickets­ hoping to use them by the end of the weekend despite­ having another 4 jump tickets in my wallet but it was­ not to be sob story!Took my mate for his 1st­ skydive[tandem[airgasm]+my 2nd jump of the day+managed­ to bury my femur in the mud after being told to jump a­ student canopy by the CCO[now retired]Anyway only found­ out we lost the league+wee Strachan is offski 2 days­ later in the trauma unit of the John Radcliffe hospital­ in Oxford+MUST GIVE THE STAFF 10/10 Absolutely superb+a­ surgeon[South African who lived in the same street in­ Camps Bay as my big brother Grim!Well done Rangers and­ tuff luck Celtic now the new manager gets attractive­ football lets hope he brings lots of titles and­ trophies and an ex-player this can only be good!!Com on­ the hoops!!

    From Gary Murray, on Thu 25 Jun 8:24PM

  2. #34 DID YOU SEE THE DIDDY CUP FINAL IN MANCHESTER­ RIOTS ALL OVER MANCHESTER COPPERS GETTING THEIR B***S­ KICKED THATS SCOTLANDS SHAME AND THATS NAW TAKIN INTO­ ACCOUNT THE TROUBLE OOTSIDE IPOX ON THE NIGHT WHERE MY­ FRIEND WAS WITH HIS TWO YOUNG CHILDREN THEY WERE SCARED­ SH**LESS AFTER THAT HE SWORE HED NEVER GO BACK TROUBLE­ AT A BEAMBACK WITH ONLY RANGERS FANS INSIDE THE GROUND­ SCOTLANDS REAL SHAME.............HAIL HAIL

    From David, on Thu 25 Jun 3:50PM

  3. Pt45...who gives a cats @#$%...the point is u never­ answer a question posed to u and u then come out with­ bile...Rangers are in deep @#$% with the bank and that­ is comming from a very very good source

    From Stuart, on Tue 23 Jun 11:15AM

  4. Has nobody looked at my points, the TRUTH about celtic

    From Paul G CHAMPIONS, on Tue 23 Jun 11:00AM

  5. who else will leave the sinking ship

    From gillyrfc, on Tue 23 Jun 10:00AM

  6. free kick of the century..lmao.......erm naw it wisnae!

    From ANDREW M, on Tue 23 Jun 9:33AM

  7. (39) StevieG - I very nearly gave you THUMBS UP for­ this post... Then you went and spoiled it with your­ last sentence. So, "half" a thumbs up for it!­ LOL!!

    From Singin' Ginger!!, on Tue 23 Jun 7:27AM

  8. HEARD THAT THE SEASON TICKETS FOR CELTIC PARK ARE FREE­ THIS SEASON

    Free to get in but have to pay to get­ out.

    Follow Follow

    From Grim Reaper, on Tue 23 Jun 7:17AM

  9. point 38, they might be geriatrics but they won the­ league, i think it says more about macdonald, maloney,­ mcgeady and hesslelink, i've said all along that­ they're @#$%, why was mcgeady player of the year­ once? the guy is on a collision course with the­ advertising boards, he is forever running out the park­ with the ball, his distribution is woeful, and please­ dont mention his shooting, and now naka has left there­ is not a footballer left in the Celtic team, mark my­ words, we'll be playing for a top six finish, all­ the footballers are at ipox, it's all very well­ slagging them, but look at Celtic, name a footballer?

    From inverkenny, on Tue 23 Jun 6:09AM

  10. I'm a Rangers supporter but not short sighted like­ others. Nakamura was a great player, a step ahead of­ near all in the SPL. I'm delighted he's­ leaving, i'll have nowhere as much fear next time­ Celtic get a freekick outside our box in the future.­ Good luck Nakamura and I hope you shine in Spain to­ prove players from the SPL can cut it in the big­ leagues. Have it noted also he was a quiet guy never in­ the papers and doesn't deserve to be slagged by us.­ Lets keep our anger for numptys like Lennon lol

    From Stevieg, on Tue 23 Jun 4:34AM

  11. Paul G - You are talking sh**e as my girlfriend works­ at the company who supplies the staff for snake­ mountain. I'm afraid to say that you are totally­ wrong, The hun have, at the moment, 33,500 season­ ticket holders signed up for next season and the hun­ are concerned by that as they are expecting 45,000, ­ Hmmm nowt to do with the product on offer at snake­ mountain???

    P,s, I see Dailly is signing up for­ another season. Dailly and Weir, it's like a home­ for geriatics

    From scottish&proud of it, on Tue 23 Jun 1:24AM
  12. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    good that hes going to spain they serve dog for lunch­ there

    From paul, on Tue 23 Jun 1:12AM

  13. Oh and page 4

    From Paul G CHAMPIONS, on Mon 22 Jun 9:37PM
  14. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Go to Yahoo Answers scottish football section and have­ a look at this question "SO which Glasgow club had­ 22 thugs banned here & in Europe in 07-08 and which­ had none?
    Celtic really are scotlands shame. Official­ document

    From Paul G CHAMPIONS, on Mon 22 Jun 9:37PM

  15. If rangers had to sell season tickets they would bring­ out similar stories to celtic, " Fortune wants to­ sign" "Celtic linked with Ronaldo"­ " Lennon wants to try slim fast". Rangers­ season tickets are already gone as the waiting list was­ pretty large. Celtic on the other hand cant sell all­ there season tickets. Wonder why?

    From Paul G CHAMPIONS, on Mon 22 Jun 9:12PM

  16. He'd be happy to leave this country and the racists­ who stick to the good old days and her majesty.
    best of­ luck.

    From Y M, on Mon 22 Jun 8:44PM

  17. everybody knows that all the players choose la liga­
    poor EPL

    From getachew44, on Mon 22 Jun 8:16PM
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    chinky basturt

    From KEVIN D, on Mon 22 Jun 8:04PM

  19. I rest my fooking case...top 2 stories on Rangers­ website are 1) Setana default on payment (there goes­ the transfer budget)2) John Martin in the driving seat­ for Rangers (What the @#$% has this got to do with­ footie)

    From Stuart, on Mon 22 Jun 7:22PM

  20. Pt25..Thats my point m8....and if I can c it are the­ huns blind

    From Stuart, on Mon 22 Jun 7:03PM
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