West Ham United have announced the signing of Montenegro attacking midfielder Sead Haksabanovic but what do we know about him?
The 18-year-old has joined the Hammers on a five-year contract for an undisclosed fee from Swedish club Halmstads BK.
He becomes Slaven Bilic’s fifth signing of the summer so far after the arrivals of Pablo Zabaleta, Joe Hart, Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez.
And here’s five things West Ham fans need to know about Haksabanovic:
Sead Haksabanovic (centre) in action for Halmstads
1) Young record maker
Hakšabanović came through Halmstads’ youth system and made his debut in the Swedish top flight over two years ago aged just 15. In doing so he became the youngest-ever footballer to debut for Halmstad and the second youngest to debut in the Allsvenskan.
2) Other top English clubs turned him down
Haksabanovic has been labelled a wonderkid but that remains to be seen. After all a number of top English clubs have already turned him down. After breaking into the Halmstads first team, Haksabanovic spent a week on trial with Manchester United and has also spent time on trial with Liverpool, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Manchester City with none of them willing to take a chance on him despite his availability at a minimal fee.
3) A Swedish-born, Albanian Montenegrin
Haksabanovic was born in Sweden but has Albanian roots and his father and entire family are from Montenegro.
He represented Sweden at youth level up to Under 19s before being called up for and electing to represent Montenegro. He made his international senior debut for Montenegro in a 4-1 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification victory over Armenia back in June.
4) Knows where the goal is
For a central midfielder Haksabanovic knows where the goal is. From 46 games for Halmstads, the skilful playmaker has netted 10 goals by the age of 18 and plenty of assists along the way too. They are impressive stats for one so young and perhaps the reason West Ham have decided to take a chance on the youngster.
5) There is some bad news… he might support Spurs
Before completing his move to the Hammers on Tuesday night it was stated in Haksabanovic’s profile on the internet that he was a fan of West Ham’s bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur. That line was mysteriously removed following the official confirmation of his arrival in East London but Spurs are a popular club in Scandanavia so it would not be too far fetched. His loyalty will be firmly with West Ham now, though, as he looks to make his mark on the Premier League.
And here’s the obligatory YouTube highlights video…
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