There appears to be a bit of confusion regarding the transfer of Sead Haksabanovic from Rubin Kazan to Celtic FC.
The Montenegro international, born in Sweden, arrived at Ange Postecoglou’s side this summer for an initial fee of just over £2m, where he has yet to really have an impact.
He’s appeared briefly in the League Cup and the Champions League for Celtic, but has yet to come on the pitch for a Premiership game.
Either way, prior to his move to Kazan, he was owned by IFK Norrköping in Sweden, who sold him to the Russian side in July 2021 for just under £6m.
However, that money wasn’t all paid up front, with £3.25m still to be sent, and the Swedish club are still trying to get their money from Kazan.
Speaking to NT in Sweden, relayed by Fotbollskanalen, Norrköping chairman, Sakarias Mårdh, explained they are working on getting it sorted with their lawyers.
He added: “It’s generally difficult with business contacts with Russia right now. Everything takes a long time.”
That’s why the Swedish side are scratching their heads as to how Celtic got a deal over the line with Kazan.
Mårdh said: “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. We will contact them too, but we also have to have Rubin’s approval to do so, as he is still their player. This is something completely new. It’s nothing that anyone has experienced before, everything is untested.
“We have our lawyer with us in this and he is one of the best transfer lawyers int he country. We are in contact with FIFA as well, should it become relevant to impose a transfer ban on [Rubin Kazan], then that is FIFA’s question. We are not alone in being in a situation like this.”
Part of that quote makes little sense, however, since Celtic purchased Haksabanovic outright, and therefore he should not still be their player.
The only thing we can think of is that Kazan agreed on a percentage of a future transfer, meaning that some of the money the Parkhead side make from a sale down the line would go to the Russian side, but even then, he wouldn’t technically be owned by them.
Either way, Norrköping will be calling Celtic in the near future to find out how to get in touch with the Russia based side.
