YOU would think that the first thing a new Japanese midfielder arriving at Celtic would want to do would be to distance himself from any predictable comparisons to compatriot and club legend Shunsuke Nakamura, particularly when it comes to his dead ball prowess.
For Tomoki Iwata though, Nakamura isn’t only a role model, but a benchmark for where he wants to get to as a player. As a combative defensive midfielder, his playing style may be markedly different from Nakamura’s, but it is in his technical ability on the ball and in his free-kicks that he tries to emulate the man Gordon Strachan called ‘a genius’.
Nakamura didn’t only inspire a generation of Japanese kids to take up the sport, but also to follow in his footsteps by striving to play abroad, as well as bringing Celtic into the mainstream consciousness of his nation.
