THE president of Bologna FC last night strongly denied tabloid reports that he had declared his club's interest in signing Celtic's Japanese international midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura.
On the Italian club's official website, Alfredo Cazzola denied having given a statement to the Daily Record, which quoted him at length yesterday saying that "we have already formalised our offer to Celtic" and that "we hope they will give us permis
sion to speak to Nakamura".
According to newly-promoted Bologna's website, Cazzola "wants it known that he has not released the long and detailed statement which appears on the website of a British newspaper talking about interest in Nakamura".
The club added that Cazzola "has said that the statement was completely made up, and that he is appalled in the face of this scandalous way of doing journalism".
Earlier, Celtic had released an equally strong denial of any move by the 30-year-old former Scottish Player of the Year. Famed for his free-kicks, Nakamura has been an integral part of Celtic's side during their hat-trick of SPL titles gained since he joined the club from Reggina in Italy for a fee of £2.5m in 2005.
A Celtic spokesman said: "We've never heard of the representative who has claimed Bologna has made an offer for Shunsuke Nakamura.
"We have not received any offer from Bologna or from any other club. In any case Naka is delighted to be staying with Celtic and that is what he will be doing."
Rumours had linked Nakamura with a return to Italian or Japanese football, but the Daily Record story was unusual in that it quoted the club president.
The full article contains 284 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
