Sead Haksabanovic leaves Celtic to join Malmo on four-year deal

Sead Haksabanovic has left Celtic to join Swedish side Malmo and has revealed that he didn’t want to leave the Scottish champions but “other people had another opinion”.

Haksabanovic, who spent last season on loan at Stoke, has signed a four-year deal with Malmo and could go straight into their squad to face Halmstad in early July.

The 25-year-old Montenegro international, who was born in Sweden, told Malmo’s official website that it was “fun” to be joining the country’s biggest club and that when transfer talks began they had “clicked immediately”.

But in a farewell message to Celtic fans, he made it clear that he hadn’t sought a move and would have been happy to try and continue his career at Parkhead but had been told he wasn’t part of the plans for the future.

“So my time at Celtic has come to an end, earlier than I thought and expected and wanted but some other people had another opinion and I gotta respect that,” Haksabanovic wrote on Instagram.

“I wanna thank the players, the staff and the fans because that is really what Celtic is about, we made some good memories together and will always have love for Celtic, good luck and Celtic are f***ing massive everywhere they go.

“All the best in the future.”

The winger joined Celtic from Rubin Kazan in August 2022 and was used regularly by manager Ange Postecoglou, though he didn’t nail down a starting place.

Following Brendan Rodgers’ appointment as Postecoglou’s successor, Haksabanovc was loaned out to Stoke City, where he spent last season.