TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Yokohama Marinos will attempt to re-sign Celtic star Shunsuke Nakamura, a report said Tuesday, although they will face a fight from the Scottish champions.

Nakamura, the Scottish Player of the Year, was a young star at the J-League club, which the Sports Hochi newspaper said wanted him back when his contract with Celtic expires in June.

And the 29-year-old Japan international is "seriously" considering returning to Japanese football, with the club he left in 2002 to join Italian side Reggina his preferred destination, the newspaper quoted his agent saying.

Yokohama are preparing to make an official offer to the playmaker in December, the sports newspaper said.

"Nakamura has not forgotten a debt of gratitude to the J-League for nurturing him," his agent Robert Takuda told the newspaper.

"He's seriously thinking about eventually wanting to give back to Japan the experience he acquired in Europe. We want to think about the Marinos as our number one option, but if that can't happen, which club he goes to will depend on future offers," Takuda was quoted as saying.

Yokohama Marinos declined to comment on the claim, but their reported interest could spark a bidding war for Nakamura, the most valuable player of the 2004 Asian Cup who was also voted Scottish Football Writers' Player of the Year.

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell last month dismissed talk about Nakamura leaving.

"We're used to speculation surrounding Shunsuke," Lawwell told the Sunday Mail.

"He is contracted until summer 2008, then we have a one-year option," he said. "We will sit down with his agent in December or early January and decide what's going to happen."

"We've had interest from other clubs. Approaches have been made to him and us," he said.

Celtic boss Gordon Strachan has called Nakamura a "genius at work" and a "beautiful footballer."