Why Shunsuke Nakamura was Celtic's original Japanese bhoy

Both statements were true of former Celtic star Shunsuke Nakamura.

Japanese midfielder Nakamura was a relatively unknown quantity when he signed for Strachan’s Celtic in 2005 from Italian side Reggina for £3 million. By 2009 when he upped sticks and left Glasgow he had gained cult and deity status among the green and white faithful.

In the summer of 2005, it was year on and the Celtic fans were still mourning the loss of Super Swede Henrik Larsson. Step forward Nakamura who would go on to become the new foreign hero for the men in green and white.

Not all superheroes wear capes but Nakamura 25 was soon adorning the backs of the famous Hooped shirt and kids practised his trademark move - the long-range free-kick.

A stunning 25-yard set-piece effort against Motherwell in August signalled his second career goal for the club and served as a timely reminder of what was to come.

The 2005/06 season was a personal triumph for Naka as he helped Celtic win a League and League Cup double. The title win saw Celtic qualify for the 2006/07 group stages of the Champions League automatically.

The Scottish champions were pitted against Manchester United, FC Copenhagen and Benfica. Naka would make his Champions League debut at Old Trafford.

Celtic lost 3-2 in a classic against Sir Alex Ferguson's Reds but the cult of Naka was up and running. He curled a beauty of a free-kick from the edge of the box past Edwin Van der Sar to level the scores at 2-2.

Celtic won their next two matches at home with Naka assisting in three of the four goals scored. In between times, the midfield magician had bagged his first hat-trick for Celtic when he helped Strachan's men come from 1-0 down to win 1-4 at Tannadice against Dundee United.

READ MORE: Celtic's first Japanese superstar Shunsuke Nakamura remembered - Tony Haggerty

Then November 21, 2006, rolled along. Celtic v Manchester United. The home leg.

A cagey game saw a 0-0 stalemate played out until nine minutes from Nemanja Vidic fouled Jiri Jarosik some 30 yards from goal and Spanish referee Manuel Gonzalez blew for an infringement.

He couldn't, could he? He did, you know.

Nakamura stepped up and hit a physics-defying free-kick that dipped, curled and arrowed its way into the top corner of the net. With one swish of the left boot, Naka had entered Celtic folklore.

It was a historic goal as coupled with Artur Boruc's penalty save from Luis Saha, the win ensured that Celtic qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time. To score a free-kick once against Manchester United in the Champions League could be considered lucky. Twice is verging o on showboating.

Nakamura is best remembered for possessing wonderful vision, a sublime touch as well as an unerring ability to bend a ball. His legendary free-kick taking bordered on the supernatural.

It was former Tottenham Hotspur captain and England midfielder Steve Perryman, who won the FA Cup and UEFA Cup with the London side, once famously remarked that Nakamura "could open up a tin of beans with his left foot".

He wasn't wrong.

In 2007, Nakamura was nominated for the Ballon d’Or whilst playing Scotland. Let that sink in. It's the last time a footballer plying their trade in Scotland has been nominated as well as the last time a Japanese player made the shortlist.

He won both the Scottish Player of the Year and SFWA Footballer of the Year awards while also etching his name into the history books as the first Japanese player to score in the Champions League. He also won the PFA Scotland goal of the season for a sublime chip over Dundee United goalkeeper Derek Stillie in a match that ended in a 2-2 draw. He was arguably the greatest foreign player to grace Scottish football since the King of Kings.

Fittingly it was Nakamura who secured the 2007 title with a textbook and trademark late-bending free-kick against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. There was even a wink to his teammates before he placed the ball and scored in Ayrshire as if to say: "I've got this, I know where it is going!"

READ MORE: Shunsuke Nakamura's incredible post Celtic career and how he still played top-level football well into his forties

Nakamura won three league titles, a Scottish Cup and two League Cups with Celtic. He was capped for Japan 98 times and scored 24 goals for his country and appeared at both the FIFA World Cup finals in 2006 and 2010.

He made 166 appearances for Celtic and scored 34 goals. Most of them were things of beauty. None more so than his only goal against Rangers in April 2008 when he swerved a ball with such ferocity from 30 yards out that it changed direction in mid-air and completely deceived Allan McGregor.

It was the opener in a 2-1 win of a crucial double-header against their city rivals en route to lifting the title. Nakamura was so talented and gifted and deadly from set pieces that he once bent a free-kick through the window of a moving bus for sport during a TV show!

Strachan said this of him: "I don't think I will forget about Shunsuke when he goes away for a week or two. If I'm lucky to be here in 25 or 30 years, I will still be thinking about Nakmura. It's not a love affair, it's just that I still remember playing with great players like Bryan Robson, Graeme Souness, and Kenny Dalglish. He is terrific. He has got a strong mind and nothing upsets him. He will go down as the most-kicked player in the SPL by a million miles and nothing fazes him."

Perhaps the last word should go to Naka himself.

He said of his time at Celtic: "I admire the environment where fans raise the level of footballers. The cheer changes in response to how we play football. The cheer for a good but unspectacular play makes us happy, makes us feel the fans are watching our play and tells us how good it was. This is a long tradition here, and the tradition gives Celtic fans a great eye for football. That makes footballers better and better."

Maybe Naka's career was already pre-ordained and written in the stars as they even named Asteroid 29986 Shunsuke in his honour.

How about that?

Shunsuke Nakamura - football genius. The decent lad did good.