Celtic have been blessed to have seen some truly world-class footballers grace the Parkhead turf over the generations.
From Jimmy Johnstone to Henrik Larsson, we have seen some truly brilliant footballers in our time.
One former Celtic star has been given the ultimate accolade after being named in the Top 20 best Asian players in football history.
Shunsuke Nakamura was an icon at Celtic Park. Signed from Reggina in 2005, Gordon Strachan bought one of the best footballing talents we have ever seen. And all for £2.5m [BBC]
Strachan managed to fight off some of Europe’s top clubs to get him and how thankful are we? Nakamura will be remembered fondly by the Celtic fans for his Champions League free-kick against Manchester United as well as his title-winning free-kick against Kilmarnock.
And who can forget about his stunning strike against Rangers in the 2-1 win at Celtic Park in 2008?
It was those exploits that made 90min name Nakamura in their prestigious list. They described the Japanese superstar as, “blessed with supreme technical ability and ball-striking skill.”
Incredibly, Nakamura was nominated for the Ballon d’Or in 2007 after a sparkling season with Celtic. [Sky Sports]
The former Celtic midfielder was listed 7th in the list just behind the likes of Hidetosha Nakata, Son Heung-min and Manchester United’s Park Ji-Sung.
He did finish ahead of legends like Keisuke Honda, Shinji Okazaki and Napoli’s Kim Min-Jae.
Nakamura won three league titles, a Scottish Cup and two league cups during his time at Celtic.
Nakamura was still playing football up until August last year when he officially announced his retirement after 26 years in the game.
In other news, John Hartson reminds Rangers not to get too carried away with Ibrox win
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