Bersant Celina


Bersant Celina is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Welsh club Swansea City and the Kosovo national team.
He began his professional career with Manchester City, where he made four appearances and had loans at Twente of the Eredivisie and Ipswich Town of the EFL Championship. He was signed by Swansea in 2018.
Born in FR Yugoslavia, Celina was raised in Norway. After representing them at youth level, he made his senior international debut for Kosovo in 2014.

Club career

Early career

Celina grew up in Drammen, Norway, where he moved to at the age of two. He started his youth career at Strømsgodset 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. 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 by head coach Manuel Pellegrini due to the busy Christmas schedule that saw Manchester City play four games in just over a week. Celina was not selected in the 18-man squad for the three matches in the Premier League, but in the fourth match valid for the third round of FA Cup 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 comeback victory for City.
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. He was included along with Brandon Barker, George Evans and Thierry Ambrose from Patrick Vieira's Elite Development Squad for the trip to the Middle East. Celina made his first senior appearance for City as a substitute for Edin Džeko in a friendly against German side Hamburger SV.
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. Later he also made his first Premier League appearance by playing as a substitute in a 3–1 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.

Loan at Twente

On 25 August 2016, Celina joined Eredivisie side FC Twente, on a season-long loan. He made his debut on 10 September, as a 67th-minute substitute, scoring his first goal for the club. On 29 January 2017, Celina was sent off with a red card at 49 minutes, in a match against PEC Zwolle. On 6 April, Celina scored his 5th goal for Twente in stoppage time, to save a 2–2 draw with PSV. Following the 2016–17 campaign Celina signed a new three-year deal with Manchester City.

Loan at Ipswich Town

On 3 July 2017, Celina joined EFL Championship side Ipswich Town, on a season-long loan. On 22 August 2017, he scored his first goal for Ipswich in an EFL Cup tie against Crystal Palace. He scored his first league goal for Ipswich in a 2–1 loss against Queens Park Rangers.

Swansea City

On 31 July 2018, Celina signed for EFL Championship side Swansea City for a reported fee of £3 million with a further £1 million to follow in performance-based bonuses. One day later, the club confirmed that Celina had joined on a permanent transfer after agreeing to a four-year deal. On 4 August, he made his debut in a 1–2 away win against Sheffield United after being named in the starting line-up. He scored his first goal for the Swans in a 3–2 loss against his former club Ipswich on 6 October.
On 13 March 2019, Celina was mocked in a 3–0 loss at West Bromwich Albion for slipping over while taking a penalty. Three days later, he scored in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup to give Swansea a 2–0 half time lead over his former club Manchester City at the Liberty Stadium, though they lost 3–2.

International career

Norway

Youth

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

Under-17

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. 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. 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.

Under-21

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

Kosovo

Senior

As soon as FIFA permitted the Kosovo 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. He was an unused substitute for the match, which finished in a goalless draw.
Celina missed the two upcoming friendlies against Turkey and Senegal in May due to injury, but returned in September 2014 for the match against Oman. He made his debut for Kosovo in that match by playing for 83 minutes, as Kosovo won 1–0 to record its maiden win.
In January 2015, Celina declared that he would turn down a call-up to the Norway, as he wanted to play for Kosovo. Albert Bunjaki, the head coach of Kosovo declared that he would not be selected to play for Albania despite his holding dual citizenship from Norway and Kosovo.
After making appearances with Kosovo's national side he also appeared once for Norway U21, 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 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.

Under-21

On 5 June 2017, Celina received a call-up from Kosovo U21 for a 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match against Norway U21 and made his debut after being named in the starting line-up.

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 3.30 am. He was fined £2,625 and banned from driving for one year. He was also ordered to pay £255 in costs.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

No.DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetition
113 November 2015Pristina City Stadium, Pristina, Kosovo21–12–2Friendly
221 March 2019Fadil Vokrri Stadium, Pristina, Kosovo122–12–2Friendly

Honours

Individual