Shunsuke Nakamura flies home this week to join the Japanese national squad for a friendly against the United Arab Emirates before their important World Cup qualifier against Uzbekistan next Wednesday. He'll then arrive back in Glasgow next Thursday evening and expects to be back at the Lennoxtown training centre on Friday morning preparing for Saturday's match in Inverness.
It's tiring schedules such as this that have prompted speculation that Naka will leave Celtic in January but the midfielder has assured Gordon Strachan that he'll be fit and raring to go on October 18 when the bhoys arrive in the Highland capital for the 12.30 kick-off against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
"I'll make it, I expect to be available for Inverness. There is no reason why I should miss it." he said. "The time difference will hopefully work in my favour and I am aiming to be back for training at Lennoxtown the day before the game. There is no reason for anyone to be concerned that I won't be back for it."
He resigned himself to this hectic lifestyle a long time ago and says that it's all part of being involved at the highest level and that his love of the game outweighs the rigours of travelling "I just have to get on with it," he said. "It is an honour to play for your country and an honour to play with Celtic. There are always a lot of games in a season but I am used to it and I enjoy playing football."
It seems Naka is still loving life at Celtic despite those persistent rumours of a return to his homeland and he's still looking forward to further involvement in the Champions League. He insists that Celtic's dream of progressing is not yet over and as he looked towards the upcoming double header against Manchester United he said that they are not out of it yet "You can never say that" said Naka, "We were disappointed last week with the defeat to Villarreal but the morale in our dressing room is still good. You never know what can happen in football and we still have four games to play. We have difficult matches but it is too early for anyone to say that we are out of the competition."
The Japanese star remembers the thrill of scoring against United in both games the last time the two teams were drawn together in the Champions League and his amazing free kick strike at Celtic Park, which gave the Celts an unlikely victory on the night, has become one of the favourite Celtic goals of all time for many of the Parkhead faithful.
"It will be very difficult against Manchester United because they are one of the best teams in Europe, but we have surprised them once before." said the man who just may surprise them again.