Aston Villa star shares his undying Celtic love as he drops Hoops shoutout into bucket list response

John McGinn has an idea of where he’d love to go in Japan - but his destination is formed by his love of Celtic.

The midfielder is captain at Aston Villa and preparing for a Europa Conference League clash with Lille this week. Ahead of it, the midfielder has been addressing where he’d like to be heading for in the Land of the Rising Sun, with Celtic fans well aware of his reasons.

His answer is formed largely on the influence of legendary Hoops playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura. The now 45-year-old spent four years at Parkhead between 2005-2009 and dazzled with his trademark set-pieces plus technical ability. He is an icon of Japanese football and spent two spells as a player at Yokohama Marinos alongside time at Reginna, Espanyol, Jubilo Iwata and Yokohama FC before retiring.

It’s Yokohama that features high on Aston Villa and Scotland star McGinn’s bucket list. Celtic have a growing connections with Marinos, with two current first team stars in Daizen Maeda and Tomoki Iwata both signing from the J League club.

Coach Harry Kewell left Lennoxtown earlier this season to manage the Japanese outfit and Ange Postecoglou also made his way to Glasgow from The City Football Group-affiliated club.

McGinn told the Aston Villa Japanese X account when asked where he’d like to visit in Japan: “Tokyo. I have always wanted to visit Tokyo but also Yokohama, as one of my favourite ever Celtic players, Shunsuke Nakamura, played for Yokohama Marinos. I think he only recently retired, so Naka, what a player, number 25, what a guy.”