Celtic player Sead Haksabanovic won’t be featuring for Montenegro during the upcoming international break.
The winger is still on our books but won’t be playing under Brendan Rodgers this season after completing a season-long loan switch to Stoke City on Friday.
With his side in the hunt for a spot at Euro 2024 and facing winnable games against Lithuania and Bulgaria — both below them in the standings — it has emerged that Haksabanovic won’t be featuring.
As reported by Montenegrin newspaper Vijesti, the attacker informed national boss Miodrag Radulović that he wouldn’t be around for the games. This seems to be due to him having to carry out tasks after exiting Celtic for Stoke.
Radulović: “Sead called last night, said that he needs to fulfil obligations related to moving from club to club, from Scotland to England, so we won’t count on him.
“The players show with gestures how much they care about playing in a jersey with the national emblem. These are his personal problems. Now we are focused on the players who are here.” (Vijesti)
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While it’s always hard to work out exactly how someone is feeling from written quotes, it does seem like the Montenegro boss isn’t totally happy with Haksabanovic pulling out of his squad, and the reason given.
It’s been a tough few months for the former Rubin Kazan man. He’s gone from being someone who things were expected of at Celtic, to on loan at Stoke and in a not ideal international position.
Given that he still has four years to run on his Hoops deal and seems well out of the picture, we could really do with him catching the eye at club and international level over the next 12 months. It’s not a great start, we must admit.
In other news, Celtic have announced details for the upcoming UEFA Champions League three-match package