Celtic were last night given the go-ahead to complete the signing of Koki Mizuno, the Japanese winger, with his work permit application approved by the Department of Employment.

Celtic were last night given the go-ahead to complete the signing of Koki Mizuno, the Japanese winger, with his work permit application approved by the Department of Employment.

Mizuno arrived in Glasgow last night to undergo a medical at the club and is expected to be paraded as a Celtic player by the weekend. An undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of £600,000, has been agreed with JEF United, the J-League side at which Mizuno has prospered.

A three-man advisory panel approved Celtic's application even though the 22-year-old - who has four caps - has not played in 75% of his country's international matches in the past two years.

Peter Cormack, Pat Nevin and Gerry Collins were satisfied that Mizuno has sufficient promise to be a success in Scottish football and his case was helped by a testimonial from Shunsuke Nakamura.

But Celtic supporters may have to wait to see the new boy in action. He and Nakamura are expected to be included in Japan's squad for two friendlies against Chile and Bosnia-Herzegovina later this month.

Nakamura is close to a return after resting a long-standing knee problem and Japan are keen to see both in action before their World Cup qualification campaign begins next month.

Meanwhile, Gary Megson, the Bolton manager, has confirmed he hopes to sign Celtic defender Bobo Balde.

Balde, 32, will play for his country at the African Nations Cup and Megson confirmed he wants the Guinean centre-back. "We have been talking to Celtic about trying to come up with a fee where we can talk to Bobo but we're not there just yet," he said.