Nakamura set for surgery

Nakamura: Set to miss season opener

Related links

Teams

• Celtic

Players

• Koki Mizuno
• Shunsuke Nakamura

Also see

• SPL fixtures
• SPL table
• SPL stats

Shunsuke Nakamura has revealed that he can no longer ignore the groin pain which has blighted him for months.

The Celtic playmaker is rumoured to be heading to Germany for an operation on the problem next week, with the surgery set to keep him out of action for around three weeks.

That would rule him out of the Hoops' first game in the defence of their SPL title, against St Mirren on 10th August.

The Japan international missed three months of last season with a knee injury and suffered further problems on his return to action at the turn of the year.

He represented his country in a series of World Cup qualifiers last month, with the help of painkillers, but a rest period has failed to cure the issue.

Medicine

The 30-year-old has been unable to take part in full training since joining up with his team-mates in Portugal on Sunday and admits that he must now seek professional help in a bid to resolve the problem.

"I've had pain from my groin, an ankle and a calf since the end of last season," he told the Evening Times.

"But the calf and ankle have been getting better in recent weeks.

"While I was playing for Japan, I took pain-relieving medicine. But it got worse."

Nakamura's compatriot Koki Mizuno is also set to go under the knife after suffering a knee injury which ruled him out of Celtic's friendly date with Middlesbrough on Tuesday.

"I've been in pain since injuring my knee playing for the reserves against Gretna back in March. It's got so bad I can't play any longer," he said.