Bersant Celina

Bersant Celina

Personal information
Full name	Bersant Eduar Celina
Date of birth	(1996-09-09) 9 September 1996
Place of birth	Prizren, FR Yugoslavia[1]
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current team	FC Twente (on loan from Manchester City)
Number	10
Youth career
2007–2012	Strømsgodset
2012–2014	Manchester City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2014–	Manchester City	1	(0)
2016–	→ FC Twente (loan)	11	(4)
National team‡
2011–2012	Norway U15	4	(0)
2012–2013	Norway U16	3	(0)
2013–2015	Norway U17	8	(0)
2014–2015	Norway U21	1	(0)
2014–	Kosovo	5	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:42, 4 December 2016 (UTC). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:07, 12 October 2016 (UTC)

Bersant Eduar Celina (born 9 September 1996) is a Kosovar professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for FC Twente, on loan from Manchester City.

Club career

Early career

Celina grew up in Drammen, Norway, where he moved to at the age of two.^[2] He started his youth career at Strømsgodset IF in Norway. In 2012, he was offered a scholarship from the Manchester City Reserves and Academy in England, where he spent the next two years as a scholar.

Manchester City

On 1 July 2014, Celina signed a three-year professional contract with Manchester City.^[3] At the time, Celina was injured and had a surgery; after returning from injury, he remained with the youth team whilst rehabilitating.

In late December 2014, Celina was called up to the first team squad by head coach Manuel Pellegrini due to the busy Christmas schedule that would see Manchester City play four games in just over a week.^[1] Celina was not selected in the 18-man squad for the three matches in the Premier League, but in the fourth match, an FA Cup match against Sheffield Wednesday on 4 January 2015, he made the matchday squad. Celina remained on the bench for the entire match, which finished with a 2–1 victory for City, after coming back from going behind.^[4]

On 19 January 2015, Celina was selected to take part in the first-team squad's mid-season Abu Dhabi training camp along with three other Manchester City academy players. Pellegrini included Celina, Brandon Barker, George Evans and Thierry Ambrose from Patrick Vieira's Elite Development Squad for the trip to the Middle East.^[5] Celina made his first senior appearance for City as a substitute for Edin Džeko in a friendly against German side Hamburger SV.^[6]

Celina made his official debut for the first team on 9 January 2016 in the FA Cup tie against Norwich City, coming on as an 85th-minute substitute in a 3–0 away win.^[7]

Celina made his Premier League debut as a substitute in a 3-1 home defeat against Leicester City on 6 February, assisting Sergio Agüero for Manchester City's only goal.^[8] On 21 February, he made his first appearance in Manchester City's starting XI in an FA Cup fifth round match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.^[9]

FC Twente

On 25 August 2016, Celina joined Eredivisie side FC Twente on a season-long loan.^[10] He made his debut on 10 September, as a 67th-minute substitute, scoring his first goal for the club.^[11]

International career

Norway

In his first years at international level, Celina was capped four times for Norway under-15s and three times for the under-16 side.

He was called up to the under-17 team by coach Bård Flovik to participate in the 2013 UEFA European Under-17 Championship. In the opening match against Malta on 29 September 2012, Celina was an unused substitute.^[12] He started the second match on 1 October against Iceland before being substituted in the 77th minute for Joachim Eriksen. The match finished with a 2–0 victory.^[13] For the last match, against Portugal on 4 October, he was again an unused substitute for the entire match, which finished with a 1–0 win.^[14]

On 25 August 2015, Celina was called up to play for Norway under-21 side in a U21 European Championship qualifier against England.^[15] He made his debut for the U21s as an 87th-minute substitute in the match on 7 September.^[16]

Kosovo

As soon as FIFA permitted the Kosovo national team to play sanctioned friendly matches with other FIFA members, in March 2014, Celina was called up to the Kosovo squad for their first sanctioned match against Haiti.^[17] He was an unused substitute for the match, which finished in a goalless draw. For the two upcoming matches of Kosovo against Turkey and Senegal in May 2014, Celina missed due to the injury, but he returned to the national team for the match against Oman on 7 September 2014.^[18] He received his debut for Kosovo against Oman on 7 September 2014 by playing 83 minutes before being substituted for Enis Bunjaki. The match finished as a historical first victory for Kosovo, with a 1–0 win.^[19] In January 2015, Celina declared that he would turn down a call-up to the Norwegian senior team, as he wanted to play for Kosovo. Kosovo head coach Albert Bunjaki declared that he would not be selected to play for Albania despite his holding dual citizenship from Norway and Kosovo.^[20] Since making appearances with Kosovo's national side he has also appeared once for Norway's under-21 side, keeping his options open. However, he all but confirmed his allegiance to Kosovo when he appeared in their first friendly as a FIFA nation, against the Faroe Islands. He made his first competitive debut against Finland on 5 September 2016, coming on as a sub in the 66th minute, cap tying him to Kosovo, confirming which national team he will represent.

Career statistics

Club

As of 4 December 2016 ^[21][22]

Note

International

As of 8 October 2016 ^[22][23]

International Goals

As of match played 5 September 2016. Kosovo score listed first, score column indicates score after each Celina goal.^{[21] [22]}

International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	13 November 2015	Pristina City Stadium, Pristina, Kosovo	2	Albania	1–1	2–2	Friendly

Personal life

On 7 August 2016, Celina was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol when officers found him behind the wheel in Manchester city centre at 3.30AM. He was fined £2625 and banned from driving for one year. He was also ordered to pay £255 in costs.^[24]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bersant Celina.

• Bersant Celina profile at Soccerway
• Bersant Celina at National-Football-Teams.com