Bersant Celina

Bersant Celina
Personal information
Full name Bersant Eduar Celina
Date of birth (1996-09-09) 9 September 1996
Place of birth Prizren, SFR Yugoslavia [1]
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Manchester City
Number 59
Youth career
2007–2012 Strømsgodset
2012–2014 Manchester City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2014– Manchester City 1 (0)
National team‡
2011 Norway U15 4 (0)
2012 Norway U16 3 (0)
2013 Norway U17 8 (0)
2014– Kosovo 2 (1)
2015 Norway U21 1 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 25 December 2014.
† Appearances (goals)

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 7 September 2015

Bersant Eduar Celina (born 9 September 1996) is a Kosovan professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for 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, 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 a 85th minute substitute in a 3–0 away win.

Celina made his Premier League debut as a substitute in a 1–3 home defeat against Leicester City on 6 February, assisting Sergio Agüero for Manchester City's only goal. 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.[7]

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.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10]

On 25 August 2015, Celina was called up to play for Norway under-21 side in a U21 European Championship qualifier against England.[11] He made his debut for the U21s as a 87th minute substitute in the match on 7 September.[12]

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.[13] He was an unused substitute for the match, which finished in a goaless 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.[14] 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.[15] In January 2015, Celina declared that he had refused 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.[16] Since making appearances with Kosovo's national side he has also appeared for Norway's under-21 side, keeping his options open.

Career statistics

Club

As of 6 February 2016 [17][18]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Manchester City 2014–15 Premier League ––00––0000
2015–16 1010––0020
Total 1010––0020
Career total 1010000020

International

As of 13 November 2015 [18][19]
Kosovo national team
YearAppsGoals
201410
201511
Total21

References

External links

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