Celtic winger Sead Haksabanovic has signed a four-year deal with Swedish champions Malmo.
The Sweden-born Montenegro midfielder joined Celtic from Rubin Kazan for a reported £2.5m fee in August 2022. His contract with Rubin Kazan had been suspended after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and he spent three months on loan at Djurgardens in Sweden before being signed by Ange Postecoglou.
However, the 25-year-old fell out of favour following the return of Brendan Rodgers last summer and subsequently joined Stoke City on loan for the duration of last season. Malmo have announced that Haksabanovic will wear number 29 and could make his debut in the home match against his former club Halmstads on 7 July.
Born in Hyltebruk in the south of Sweden, Haksabanovic made his debut aged 15 for nearby Halmstads. He moved to West Ham United in 2017, but his time with the Hammers was principally spent on loan to Norrkoping and Spanish club Malaga before he joined the Swedish club permanently.
‘Consistency and playing time’—that is what the former Celtic man will be looking for at his new club. And that is what he lacked, really, during a spell at the Scottish Premiership champions which can probably be best described as underwhelming. It just hasn’t worked out on British soil.
Sead Haksabanovic left West Ham United without making a single Premier League appearance in 2020. And, when he returned across the Channel with Celtic, far bigger things were expected of a man whose £1.7 million move to Parkhead was seen—by his former youth coach—as the ideal next step for this ‘diamond’ of a footballer.
Haksabanovic, managing only 27 Premiership games before being farmed out on loan to Stoke City, proved to be less of a precious gem and more fool’s gold in the end.
But after securing his return to Scandinavia with a move to Malmo, could a man who played his best football in the Allsvenskan for IFK Norrkoping rediscover the qualities that caught Celtic’s eye in the first place?
Malmo will certainly hope so, as they aim to harness Haksabanovic’s potential and turn him into the consistent performer they need to bolster their squad. With the stability and playing time he seeks, Haksabanovic has the chance to revive his career and live up to the early promise he showed in Sweden.