Former Celtic winger Sead Haksabanovic says he has no regrets over the bombshell social media update which arguably ended his Hoops career.

The 25-year-old spent last season on loan at Stoke City in the Championship after being told by Brendan Rodgers he was free to leave the club, with the Montenegrin joining Swedish side Malmo on a four-year deal in June 2024.

Haksabanovic penned a five-year deal with Celtic in the summer of 2022 and was part of Ange Postecoglu’s treble-winning side in his debut campaign.

But after falling out of favour with Brendan Rodgers last season, Haksabanovic shared a post on Instagram captioned: "If they don’t see your value maybe you’re not at the right place". The winger joined Stoke the following month and did not play another game for the Hoops.

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In an interview with Football Scotland, Haksabanovic said: "I wouldn't say that I regret it [the Instagram post]. 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, 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."

Brendan Rodgers admitted to being "surprised" by the post at the time. "We spoke about it after a training session," Haksabanovic said. "It was a good talk, we shook hands and everything. After that, I felt that they didn't want me there. They had different options on the table but they kept saying no to everything, I don't know why. They didn't want me there. In the end, I had to do something."

(Image: Craig Foy - SNS Group) He continued: "The first thing I said to Brendan [last year] was, 'If you give me a valid chance to give me a place in the team, I will do everything you say and work hard. If you tell me to run 10 laps around the pitch, it doesn't matter I will do it if you give me a fair chance.' But in the summer, I didn't speak with them so much because I knew a little bit how they felt and in the end, it was more like a decision from both me and them."

"The thing I can say is when Brendan came, he wanted other players to play in front of me”, he added. “He said clearly, and I respect that, that I was not in his plans to play."

Despite his stint in Scotland being cut short, Haksabanovic insists he is proud of everything he achieved at Celtic, winning a historic treble and playing Champions League football for the first time.

"My first season, I'm happy with that. Of course, I wanted to play more. I'm very proud that I can say I played for Celtic in my career.

"It's one of the biggest clubs in Europe. Everybody in the world knows who Celtic are. Everywhere I've gone in the world, it's like 'You've played for Celtic!' I'm proud that I can say that I've played for Celtic. I have some Celtic shirts at home and pictures that I'm very proud of."