14 Jan 2008(Mon)

January 11, 2008: So Koki Mizuno is "the new Shunsuke Nakamura" is he?

Must have missed that comparison in the years I have been watching him for JEF, but inevitably this is how the Scottish media have been describing him recently over the Celtic connection.

I can't think of anything the two players have in common, other than that they are Japanese.

There again, I remember receiving a call from a newspaper in England a few years ago asking me if it were true that Akinori Nishizawa was as popular in Japan as Hidetoshi Nakata. The call was from the evening newspaper in Bolton, and they were very disappointed when I informed them that no, Nishizawa was not as popular as Nakata -- Hidetoshi or Koji (the joke was lost, I am afraid).

Mizuno is far from the new Shunsuke, although, admittedly, he is definitely Japanese.

Koki is essentially a right winger; a player blessed with natural speed and who likes to take his man on down the wing and ping over a cross. Sometimes he will go it alone, cut inside and have a shot himself, with left foot or right.

He can also play a more central role, buzzing about behind the front line and running at defenders through the middle.

So no, Mizuno is not at all the new Shunsuke. He is an altogether different player but who still has a lot to offer. In fact, if Celtic boss Gordon Strachan is looking for typical Japanese qualities, then Mizuno is more Japanese than Shunsuke, who is not quick but who, given time and space to operate, is a beautiful passer of the ball, and a set-piece specialist. During his time coaching in Japan, Steve Perryman once told me that "Nakamura could open a can of beans with his left foot" -- and this is probably true (but I would not like to taste them).

Nakamura's passing could work quite well with the pace of Mizuno down the right wing, should the deal go through.

More bad news for the suffering JEF fans, though.

ends