IFK Norrkoping boss confirms Haksabanovic is still ‘Celtic’s player’ amidst transfer controversy with Russian team

New Celtic forward, Sead Haksabanovic, is at the centre of a battle between former sides Rubin Kazan and IFK Norrkoping over an unpaid transfer case set to be taken to FIFA.

The 23-year-old completed his transfer to the Glasgow team on deadline day after the Russian side allowed their star man to become Ange Postecoglou‘s eighth and final summer signing – just 12 months after signing him for £5.5million from the Swedes.

The Montenegro international reportedly moved for a fee in the region of £2.6million, which has since been flagged by Norrkoping chairman Sakarias Mardh.

Celtic’s transfer of Sead Haksabanovic is currently being investigated by FIFA after IFK Norrkoping say they’ve not been paid by Rubin Kazan for the player.

The Russian side reportedly ‘reluctantly’ allowed Haksabanovic to join Ange Postecoglou in Glasgow in an unusual turn of events .

The winger was Ange Postecoglou’s final signing of the summer window as he penned a five-year-deal for Parkhead.

IFK’s chairman, Sakarias Mårdh, told Swedish outlet, NT Sport, that the Rubin have yet to pay £3.2 million of the transfer fee to the club following Haksabanovic’s move to the Russian Premier League last summer.

The club chief states that the Allskenskan side are set to pursue legal action to recoup their transfer fee, while confessing he was perplexed how a sale to Celtic could be rubber stamped amid the outstanding monies.

Mårdh said:“We are working on it (recouping the transfer fee) with our lawyers. It is generally difficult with business contacts with Russia right now.

“Everything takes a long time. This is something completely new. It is nothing that anyone has experienced before, everything is untested.

“We have our lawyer with us in this and he is one of the best transfer lawyers in the country. It is FIFA we are in contact with. Should it become relevant to impose a transfer ban on them (Rubin Kazan) then that is FIFA’s question. We are not alone in being in a situation like this.”

When asked on how Rubin have been able to sell Haksabanovic to Celtic, he added: “That is what we are trying to figure out a little. We will contact them, but he is still their player.”