With Stoke City, Sead Haksabanovic, a Celtic loanee, is beginning to leave his imprint. He is displaying his “unique set of qualities” and “excellent” technical ability.
The former West Ham United youngster endured a sluggish start to life at the Potteries but, if his performance in last weekend’s 2-0 win at Middlesbrough is anything to go by, the Stoke supporters could be about to find out why Celtic were so keen to sign him in the first place back in 2022.
Despite being out of the starting lineup for a while, Sead Haksabanovic proved to be a great asset for Stoke in that unexpected victory on Riverside, recording his second assist while wearing the Stoke uniform.
Sead Haksabanovic of Celtic excels for Stoke
The former Hamilton Academical manager, Neil, tells the Stoke Sentinel, “We wanted a different variety of wide players, which is why we brought Haks.” Each of our wide players is really unique. Additionally, Haks offers a special set of attributes that others lack.
Against Middlesbrough, Haksabanovic—who cost £1.7 million to acquire from Russian team Rubin Kazan—made his first start in four games. Additionally, he has only played a total of three minutes of Championship games with Leeds United, Leicester City, and Sunderland.
It will take time to determine whether his impressive performance in the North East represents a turning point in his Stoke career or if it is just another false dawn for a player who has had enough
“A phenomenal finisher”
Neil continues, “Technically, he’s excellent.” “He can get at full-backs by standing them up and rolling off that left-hand side onto his right foot.” Although we haven’t seen it yet, I witness it daily in training.
“He gets into excellent places and finishes really well. It was a great shame for him not to score against Middlesbrough.
It was an appropriate day to introduce him, and I believe he has bided his time. He was important in our success. Without a doubt, he still has a lot more to offer.
In 2024, Haksabanovic may yet make a comeback to Celtic. If he does, though, Brendan Rodgers’ starting lineup will probably see more competition than ever before. Ultimately, Celtic acquired three new wingers in the summer: Luis Palma, Marco Tilio, and Yang Hyun-Jun.
In Wednesday’s tight 2-1 victory against St. Mirren, Yang showed promise.
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