Celtic flop Sead Haksabanovic has explained the cryptic Instagram post that ultimately ended his Hoops career.

sead haksabanovic
Soccer Football – Scottish Premiership – Celtic v Heart of Midlothian – Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain – March 8, 2023 Celtic’s Sead Haksabanovic celebrates scoring their third goal Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith

The winger joined the club in the summer of 2022 and showed several glimpses of promise during his first season at Parkhead.

Haksabanovic, though, was essentially a bit-part player who never got going.

Some predicted he might kick on under Brendan Rodgers, but the Irishman never rated the winger, who hit out with a surprising outburst on social media at the beginning of last season amidst a lack of consistent game time.

The Montenegrin was swiftly shipped out on loan to Stoke City after his Instagram debacle, on which he recently lifted the lid.

“I wouldn’t say that I regret it [the Instagram post],” he said (Football Scotland).

“It was nothing to the fans or anything like that.

I don’t want to go into details and stuff, it’s between me and them [the club], but I felt I was not treated as the others were and I need to look for myself and make sure that I’m good because I understand why the fans were mad at me.

“They always want the best for the club and as long as I was a Celtic player I did that as well.

“But I need to protect myself as well because of things that someone can do against me and if I don’t like it, feel appreciated or respect it… it didn’t need to go so far that I needed to post it, but it went so far so I had to do something for myself.”

Haksbanovic is on record previously admitting the Celtic board wanted to keep him at the club. He got a dig in at Rodgers, claiming his exit was predominantly down to the boss.

The gaffer’s judgement on Haksabanovic, though, looks to have been correct.

There is a reason the 25-year-old flopped at Stoke in England’s second tier and has now ended up with Malmo, who are so poor they were beaten off Rangers last week.

Haksabanovic’s Celtic spell never worked out despite initial signs of promise. He eventually sold himself with an unprofessional eruption.

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