Celtic boss Gordon Strachan is confident of holding onto Shunsuke Nakamura beyond the January market. The Japan international has been linked with a return home in January as Yokohama Marinos prepare to make a formal bid for the talismanic midfielder.

Parkhead sources have rubbished suggestions that they have already demanded a mammoth £7million for a player they bought three years ago for just £1.3m.

With Nakamura's agent, Roberto Takuda, poised to fly to Glasgow next month for talks, however, it's clear that Celtic face a fight to persuade the player to stay until the end of his contract next summer.

Pinning his hopes on Nakamura's team ethic, manager Strachan said: "Shunsuke has never brought anything up, though we had a long chat about football today. He has never said a thing.

'Knowing Shunsuke, he would not upset anyone at this club one way or the other.

"He wouldn't want to upset his team-mates, his manager, coaches, anyone. I think he would put the team before himself, that's for sure."