He came, he impressed in small flashes, and then he left.

Sead Haksabanovic’s near two-year stay with Celtic has come to an end, following his move to Malmo in Sweden. Signed from Russian outfit Rubin Kazan back in 2022, the winger came to Scotland with a highlight reel that left onlookers excited at what he could bring to the table. Formally of West Ham United, Malaga and Djurgardens – to name but a few - the Montenegro international had experienced somewhat of a nomadic career up to his permanent move to the Scottish champions, managed then by Ange Postecoglou.

Fast-forward to the present, however, and Haksabanovic will now ply his trade once again in the Allsvenskan this season after a deal was agreed upon between his old club and his new suitors for a permanent transfer concerning the forward. With so much buzz surrounding the player just under two years ago, why did Haksabanovic fail to make the grade, particularly under Brendan Rodgers?

Using StatsBomb radars and graphics, TCW’s Ryan McGinlay investigates why the talented winger was not the box-office success that many hoped he would be at Celtic…

The simple numbers

Before we go into the StatsBomb radars, graphics and statistics, let us first have a look at the all-important numbers that many will already be aware of. Haksabanovic made a total of 42 appearances for Celtic in all competitions, scoring five goals and assisting a further five during his short time at the club. Of those appearances, 40 of them took place in the 2022/23 season, whilst he managed just two the campaign after, before leaving on loan to English Championship side Stoke City at the end of the transfer window.

Starting only 13 of his 42 games, Haksabanovic was more of an impact sub than a first-team pick from the off in his Celtic career. When handed opportunities to start, he would fail to impress more often than not, with the Montenegrin dropped to the bench almost routinely in the next game. Alas, Postecoglou had better and more defensively mature options out on the left wing such as Jota and Daizen Maeda, which limited Haksabanovic’s game-time.

All five of the winger’s goals came in the Scottish Premiership before the split, with half of his four assists coming in the same competition – the other half occurring in the Scottish Cup. His final appearance came in the infamous League Cup exit to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, where he had a strong claim for a penalty that was waved away by both the referee and VAR. An explosive player, whose Celtic career unfortunately went out with a whimper.

Positioning

Haksabanovic predominantly played on the left wing during his time at the club, though he was versatile when required to fill out a certain position. He could play on the opposite side, as well as in the middle of the park, both defensively and further forward. It must be underlined,, however, that these roles were mostly as a substitute, with his starts almost always occurring on the left or right wing.

The statistics

Using StatsBomb’s player radar feature, we constructed a graphic that illustrated Haksabanovic’s strengths and weaknesses, aided by percentiles which act as a guide for the player’s ranking in key areas. This radar only takes into account his contributions in the 2022/23 Scottish Premiership season, due to a lack of data for the following campaign.

Let us deal with the positives first, of which there are a few. The two standout statistics concerning his attacking play are in passing percentage and in successful crosses – two areas where wingers need to be effective to be able to thrive at Celtic. For passing accuracy, he managed a success rate of 85 per cent over the course of that league season. Because of this, he scored a massive percentile rating of 98, which is the same ranking for his successful crosses, as he managed 1.52 per game. His crossing success percentage as a whole stood at 44 per cent, and in turn, a 91st percentile for his efforts.

Another strong point for Haksabanovic in the league for Celtic was in the creation of key passes, which is a distribution that directly leads to an assist or dangerous attack. In this period, he managed 2.28 per game, an impressive total despite his lack of minutes under Postecoglou, particularly from the start. For this, he ranked in the 92nd percentile amongst his competitors in similar areas of the park. Just under four dribbles per game (3.99) is an impressive total, too, in the 84th percentile, meanwhile, his low dispossession numbers had him ranked in the 88th for this data metric.

Very much in keeping with the player’s style and temperament, some of Haksabanovic’s metric totals do leave a lot to be desired, which could point to why he has been quickly moved on by Rodgers during this window. The first stat that stands out in a negative sense is in turnovers, of which the player committed 5.71 per 90 minutes, a very high adverse total, in turn ranking him in the THIRD percentile out of 100. Rodgers has had previous with players that do not take care of the ball (the biggest being Reo Hatate), so these numbers will not wash, which has proved to be the case.

Furthermore, Haksabanovic’s shot selection does not score well, at least in the eyes of xG. His average xG total per shot taken was 0.07, which pointed to a keenness to score the spectacular goal rather than getting closer to the goal. In defence of the winger, he did manage this on occasion – particularly versus Hearts and Hibs at home – meaning that he did have this in his locker, yet the majority of his efforts failed to trouble the opposition. It must be said that his decision-making left a lot to be desired throughout his only full season with Celtic. Because of this, his xG per game stood at 0.15, though his percentile was higher at 48.

Though he did get turned over in possession, he did make a conscientious effort to try and pressure the opposition without it, managing 15.79 per 90 minutes – a ranking of 47 in percentile. Despite ranking in the upper echelons in dribbling, his success rate was lower, managing 1.71 per match. Though not a bad percentile at 68, this metric illustrates that it did not always come off for the player, who was capable of magic when he put his mind to it.

Focusing on the winger’s shooting, observe Haksabanovic’s above shot map from the 2022/23 season in the Scottish Premiership. From this, we can garner a rough idea of where the left-winger liked to operate concerning shooting opportunities. In and around the left-hand side of the box is his ‘sweet spot’, scoring four goals from roughly the same area of the park. All five of his goals were scored by his stronger right foot, with the player keen to cut inside and take a shot from distance. The one outlier is his tap-in versus Dundee United, the closest shot to the goalkeeper – a high-xG chance compared to his more speculative efforts from distance.

Because of this tendency, you begin to understand why his xG was so low per 90 minutes, as he was constantly going for strikes from distance rather than trying to work the play into a better area. A good impact player, but a wasteful one from the start.

Over the course of his season under Postecoglou, Haksabanovic amassed 24 key passes in total for Celtic. Of these, three ended up being assists, showing his willingness to help set up his fellow teammates for goalscoring chances. Liel Abada, James Forrest and Alexandro Bernabei were the three recipients of these successful key passes.

The exit

As mentioned at the beginning of this piece, Haksabanovic’s move to Malmo was confirmed yesterday afternoon, as the winger penned a four-year deal with the Swedish champions. In truth, his exit was forecast far sooner, as his Instagram post last August painted a picture of a player who was eager to move on. “If they don't see your value maybe you're not at the right place” was the caption, and just days later he was shipped out to Stoke City, his wish being granted by Rodgers and the club’s hierarchy.

A ‘moments’ player, he returns to Sweden with three winner’s medals to his name, as part of Postecoglou’s treble-winning squad. Despite it not working out under Rodgers, that does not mean that Haksabanovic will not succeed in his familiar but new surroundings in Scandinavia.

Who knows, he may make a quick return to Scotland if Malmo qualify for the newly revamped Champions League this autumn…