CELTIC will welcome back Shunsuke Nakamura for pre-season training on July 17 - and the Japan ace reckons he will be ready to face Southampton the following night.

Boss Gordon Strachan is unlikely to take him up on his offer, either in the game at St Mary's or the following day when the SPL champions face Fulham at Craven Cottage.

The midfielder has been allowed to report back a couple of weeks behind the majority of the squad after playing for Japan in their World Cup qualifiers right up until June 22.

But Naka will be back up to something like full speed by the time Celtic complete the three games they will play in Portugal the following week.

One man who will welcome him back with open arms is countryman Koki Mizuno, who has had to bounce back from the disappointment of being cut from Japan's Olympic squad.

The 22-year-old who joined Celtic from JEF United at the end of January had been a regular in the team and was included in the original group.

But he was shocked to discover he had been one of the men jettisoned when the party which will head to China next month was reduced.

Mizuno's lack of first-team action since his move to Parkhead counted against him.

He has figured only twice on the bench and has still to set foot on the pitch.

But that is something Mizuno intends to rectify as quickly as he possibly can.

He believes he has now had sufficient time to find his feet at his new club and wants to finally let fans see what he can bring to the first team.

Given his slight frame and lack of experience - he is nowhere near as street-wise as Naka, as the former SPL Player of the Year had already experienced playing in Italy before moving to Glasgow - Mizuno has been nursed along gently by the Celtic management team.

Mizuno's technical ability and energy have made him a hit on the training field and with the rest of the reserve team players.

And his displays in the second string have confirmed that, while he is not a clone of Nakamura, he does have much to offer.

As he settled into his first Celtic pre-season, Mizuno said: "For the first five months I was getting used to the style of play.

"Now this season is where my time here really starts. The next six months are important and I want to prove myself."

The eight pre-season games -Celtic follow up the double header in England with matches against Middlesbrough and Cardiff in the Algarve Cup then a match against Porto, games against Spurs and Feyenoord in Rotterdam and finally a home match against Manchester City - will provide the perfect platform for Mizuno to show Strachan he is ready for the step up to the first team.

He is smart enough to know that, with the likes of Nakamura and Aiden McGeady holding down the wide midfield berths and even more cut-throat competition for the central positions, he can't expect to simply walk right into the team.

"The first real step is to get on the bench on a regular basis," said a philosophical Mizuno.

"From there, the target is to get into the team."