Shunsuke Nakamura offered coaching role which could see him work alongside Celtic stars

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Former Celtic hero Shunsuke Nakamura has reportedly been approaching for a coaching role in the Japanese National team.

The 44-year-old hung up his boots at the end of 2022, bringing an incredible career which spanned across 26 years to an end.

Nakamura spent time in countries such as Italy, Spain and his homeland. But arguably, his most memorable spell came at Parkhead.

Celtic supporters continue to have very fond memories of the midfielder, who scored some incredible goals for the Hoops.

Those included long-range efforts against Rangers, and who could forget his ability from dead-ball situations, scoring a number of classic free kick strikes.

After bringing his career to an end last year, Nakamura decided to make the move into coaching and is now part of the coaching staff at his most recent club Yokohama FC [Japan Times].

Nakamura may only be in the very early days of his coaching career, however, he is a man in demand if reports are to be believed.

According to Yahoo Japan, Japanese international boss Hajime Moriyasu is keen to add the former Celtic man to his backroom team after signing a new contract.

The Yokohama coach has already been approached, with a view to him becoming part of the coaching staff going forward, in a role that would put Nakamura in charge of ‘assembling attacks and set pieces’.

Nakamura could be set for role that would see him work closely with several current Hoops stars.

Currently, at Celtic, we have a number of links to Japan after the arrival of Ange Postecoglou from the J-League in the summer of 2021.

The 57-year-old has signed six players from Asia, adding Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate, Yosuke Ideguchi, and most recently, Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata to his squad.

One of the Hoops newest recruits, Kobayashi, does, in fact, have a link to the Celtic cult hero, having played with Nakamura whilst on loan at Yokohama FC.

However, all six players could potentially be working closely with Nakamura in the near future if he decides to take up the role with the Japanese National team.

Of course, only Daizen Maeda was selected as part of Moriyasu’s squad heading for the World Cup in Qatar a few months ago.

However, the likes of Kyogo, Hatate and Iwata have all picked up caps for their nations previously and will have aspirations of returning to the national team setup.

Kobayashi is also regarded as one of the talents for the future for his nation. So if he performs well at Parkhead, there is a strong chance of a call-up.

It would certainly be good to see the current crop of Celtic stars working alongside a fantastic former player in Shunsuke Nakamura, who would be able to offer them plenty of expertise.

It remains to be seen whether or not the ex-Celtic midfielder will take up this role with his nation. However, it looks like a brilliant opportunity so early in his coaching career.

In other news, More encouraging signs as Cho Gue-sung speaks; keen to move this month amid Celtic interest.