News round-up 2

- Said Husejinović has announced that he will no longer play for the national team as long as Miroslav “Ćiro” Blažević is manager. This news has come out of nowhere, as I don’t think anyone had any idea that Husejinović was upset with the current situation. He claims, however, that he resents not being called up and receiving playing time.

For those who don’t know, Husejinović is a 20-year-old all-around offensive player at Werder Bremen. He was touted as Bosnia’s biggest post-war domestic talent while at Sloboda Tuzla, and his transfer over the summer was the Premijer liga’s biggest in years. He had a hard time breaking into the team this year, but he’s been getting more opportunities of late, even starting against Wolfsburg. When he has played, the reviews have generally been good, and Werder definitely seem to be counting on him for the future. Husejinović himself says he expects to have a far more successful spring.

But while his progress has been encouraging, no one in their right mind would place Husejinović ahead of Vedad Ibišević and Edin Džeko. Playing in the Bundesliga, Husejinović must know this, and that makes his complaints about playing time all the more perplexing – who exactly is he supposed to replace? Needless to say, many Bosnian fans have not taken very kindly to this, especially since players like Miralem Pjanić and Ibišević never complained about their time on the bench. In his response that same day Blažević did not sound angry, but explained that he wasn’t going to beg anyone to play.

Personally I’m a little torn; I’ve long been more sympathetic of Husejinović than Blažević, and I’d like to think that this protest is more about Husejinović taking a poorly timed “political” stance (a la “the boycott”) than a blatant ego-trip. If not, however, it’s disappointing to hear such words from one of our top prospects.

Here’s an interview with Husejinović from earlier in the year (auf Deutsch), when he first joined Werder.

- Our starting keeper, Kenan Hasagić, is apparently being linked with Fenerbahçe again. In my earlier overview of the Bosnain goalkeeping situation I said that such a move is more likely now that Hasagić is a Turkish citizen. In the recent interview, however, Hasagić says that the paperwork is yet to be finalized. The Turkish FA apparently allows its clubs only seven foreign nationals, at least one of whom has to be on the bench; since Fenerbahçe is currently at that limit, this presents a problem.

Hasagić says that citizenship is only a matter of time though, and that if it happens a move to Şükrü Saracoğlu could be in the cards. He also revealed that there have long been contacts with Fenerbahce, but that similar obstacles always prevailed. The Canaries’ manager Luis Aragonés is driving the interest, and he might’ve liked what he saw of Kenan in the Euro qualfying match against Spain in August.

It’s no secret that Hasagić has long eyed a move to one of Istanbul’s big three clubs. He currently lives in the city, and plays for the smaller Istanbul B.B. (10th in the Süper Lig). Fatih Terim has repeatedly stated that he considers Hasagić the top keeper in Turkey, and it’d be nice to see another one of our regulars move to a club of Fenerbahçe’s calliber.