Opinion: Celtic star could return to starting line-up after eye-catching cameo

It has been an up and down season for Celtic attacker Sead Haksabanovic since he joined the Hoops in the summer from Rubin Kazan. The 23-year-old has had to deal with injuries, and other players performing well in his area of the squad, but it should also be remembered that he was the Scottish Premiership Player of the Month in November.

Perhaps his Celtic career so far was summed up in injury time of the recent League Cup Final, where he showed superb skill to get clean through on goal, but steered his shot just wide of the goal.

Thankfully the miss didn’t matter as the Hoops won the trophy, but Haksabanovic will be annoyed with himself that he didn’t score for the Bhoys.

It was still an eye-catching cameo though, and one wonders if that will persuade the Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou to return the player to the Celtic starting line-up.

The attacker played well for the Hoops in the time that he was on the pitch, giving the Rangers defence plenty of problems, and as has already been said, the player really should have found the back of the net for the Hoops in the game.

The thing that might count against Haksabanovic’s chances of returning to the starting line-up in Celtic’s next game is the fact that the Hoops are in action against St Mirren, in a return to the only stadium where the Bhoys have lost in the Scottish Premiership this season.

That means that the Celtic boss will likely make few alterations to the starting line-up that lined-up in the League Cup Final at Hampden Park. But if the Celtic manager is going to make one or two changes to his line-up, then Haksabanovic could be at the forefront of any of the changes that are going to be made.

Celtic have three games coming up in six days next week all of which look difficult on paper, the trip to St Mirren followed by a double header against Hearts, firstly in the league at Celtic Park, then in the Scottish Cup quarter-final at Tynecastle.

You have to think that the Celtic manager will look to make a few changes to his squad over the course of the three games, as it is unlikely that the same players will be tasked with playing 270 minutes of football in less than a week.

That is why if changes are to be made, and the Hoops boss decides to utilize his squad, we might well see Haksabanovic return to the Celtic starting line-up possibly this weekend for the Hoops.