A report in Russia claims Premiership champions Celtic are on the verge of landing top target Sead Haksabanovic from Rubin Kazan in a permanent deal.
Ange Postecoglou is keen on the versatile winger who has been on loan at Djurgården amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. It's understood the Montenegro winger is keen on a switch to Parkhead and now a deal is said to be agreed to take him to Scotland. The 23-year-old joined Kazan last summer in a £5.4m deal but Russian Football News state Celtic are set to pay less than that fee, as reported by Record Sport on Wednesday.
Haksabanovic can operate on both wings and his pending arrival ties into Postecoglou's message he is seeking players who can play in multiple roles. Celtic are gearing up for their first tilt at in the Champions League proper for five seasons and the attacker fits the bill. Rubin Kazan general director Rustem Saimanov said: "We are in talks with both of them (Oliver Abildgaard and Haskasbanovic) - of course, they both want to leave. But we aren't letting them go for nothing because we want some money for them. We are waiting on bids.
"Our situation is extremely worrying. Our budget has halved. I regard myself as being in a crisis management role. Our players all arrive for free now and no club has given us a single penny for transfers. We have been robbed by FIFA and UEFA. Everyone says that we have a big budget, but we also have big obligations. We have an academy which we spend millions of rubles on. Additionally, we have a women's team playing in the major leagues. All this eats up money.
"And then we have obligations on loans that we don’t want, but you need to repay. We thought we could sell our best players for money which we didn't get, the TV rights are down too. We budgeted for all this and got nothing."
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