Celtic’s Sead Haksabanovic transfer pursuit gets massive boost as Rubin Kazan chief reveals inside details of deal
RUBIN KAZAN chief Rustem Saimanov has revealed they are preparing to sell Celtic target Sead Haksabanovic because they desperately need the money.
The Hoops have renewed their initial interest in the 23-year-old Montenegro international winger, who was once snapped up by West Ham.
Haksabanovic wants to leave the Russian club and return to western Europe and Celtic are reportedly leading the chase.
And Rubin Kazan general director Saimanov has opened the door for the Hoops to make their move as he explained their financial plight and confirmed two players - Haksabanovic and Danish midfielder Oliver Abildgaard - can depart... for the right price.
He said: "We are in talks with both of them - 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.
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"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.
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"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."
The 23-year-old wide man signed a new five-year deal last year, but is desperate to leave and the Russians appear to have accepted it.
Elsewhere, Hoops captain Callum McGregor insisted that his side are nowhere near to the peak of their powers yet despite a strong start to the campaign.
He admits that the less strenuous start to the season has benefited his side after securing automatic Champions League qualification.
He said:“I think we have more gears to come. The more games we play the more we get match sharpness and we find our rhythm.
“It’s been good so far, but there’s definitely more to come. We’re only going to get sharper.”
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“Every day it’s about making sure the team is cohesive and moving in the right direction with and without the ball.
“It’s given us time to really drill things down before things really kick off, because it won’t be long before it’s a good few months of game-recovery-game."
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