In one of the youth team’s training sessions held last year, technical director Bonnie Ginzburg came to those present in the field area. Ginzburgone who has been through a thing or two in football turned to them and said: “Where have you been hiding this boy until now?” He was referring to the Toklomati era.
at the age of 18 and a little, Maccabi attack player P“A. It’s been a dream year. Last September, He also found himself playing in a home uniform“R. Tobruk in the second youth league, But thanks to his agent Roy Daniel, He moved to Maccabi F“A who purchased it for the meager sum of 20,000 Shekels and even he had trouble predicting what would happen next.
A successful tournament with Ofir Haim’s youth team that finished in second and respectable place, Qualifying for the European Championship with the young team while scoring the goal to win his team the first playoff game against Scotland and great credit from the Maccabi coach“T. Shay Barda, which helped him become perhaps the number one player of the Malavas this season at such a young age.
After the sale of Manor Solomon and Liel Abda, Toklomati is marked as Avi Luzon’s next exit. Quite a few people will hear the name Toklomati, His father will be remembered, A Maccabi Netanya player at the beginning of the current millennium who was soon expelled after he was suspected of lying about his age.
Idan had a difficult childhood, without almost seeing his father, But his mother is Iris, She was always there in the picture protecting him, As you will read below. After years in which the name Toklomati was in the headlines due to the same dubious story, Now in a special interview for ONE, His first in the seniors, It was Idan’s turn to speak: For the first time, his voice was heard on the topic of the well-publicized story that was talked about quite a bit.
Idan, You digest what happened to you this year? You believed in such a hack?
“First of all, obviously I believed because I always believe. I think since the days in Tobruk, I told myself that I should do my best wherever I am. In the end it paid off. I am part of 11 players and I don’t call it a hack anymore “.
You left Tobruk and had the option of going to.S. Ashdod, Maccabi Netanya and Maccabi Haifa. You insisted on Maccabi F“A. And you weren’t ready to hear about other things.
“It’s because of the club’s resume. I like the youth department of Maccabi Pat very much and when I came here I thought first of all about the youth department and not the adults. In addition, you are looking at Manor Solomon and Liel Abda. I know that Maccabi PAT is a club that believes in young players and gives them the opportunity on the field. Manor and Abda are two players who left Maccabi PAT and that gives you the boost to continue being here.”
How is your relationship with Avi Luzon?
“From the moment I set foot in the club, the first sentence he said to me was: ‘My door is always open to you.’ So first of all I always felt that it was not just a sentence. Anything I needed I would contact him directly.”
Who are you close to in the club??
“What’s beautiful about this club is that there is a combination of the younger and older players. There are some players here that I feel are taking me under their wing like Tal Ben Haim, Dodo Biton and Danny Amos. They help me and I see it on the field. I have a special group on WhatsApp With Dodo Beaton, I pass on all the training I do to him and he gives me specific points to correct and I listen to him.”
why a number 87?
“It’s a bit of a funny story. I had a friend at Beitar Tobruk who today plays for Maccabi Petah Tikva in the youth team, Adam Mahmid. At the beginning of the year in the senior team, I came to Afsnai and asked him about numbers and he told me that the numbers 10 and 77 (the ones he had in his youth), Busy, so I decided on number 87.”
You have a special relationship with coach Shay Breda.
“From the first conversation he told me that he wanted to promote me personally. You can also see it on the field. He stays with me after training, gives me ‘extras’ and really believes in me.”
How much the performance in the summer in the youth team helped you develop?
“The youth team was significant for everyone. We had a lot of exposure because we reached a very high stage in the tournament. It gave exposure to all kinds of players and I hope to me too. Looking back, this is a year that can be defined as a kind of ‘wow’ for me. I made progress but I haven’t come to anything yet. I see it as another step.”
It seemed that the players had a very great connection with coach Ofir Haim.
“I love him. Ofir is one of the few coaches that players play for. He is a locker room coach at an exceptional level. If he has 21 players in the squad and seven know that they are not playing, somehow they will like him.”
We are talking about the fact that your younger generation looks up to the big teams as well.
“This generation is a very cheeky generation in a positive way. We don’t lower our heads against any team and we looked at the whites of both France and England. We don’t think we are any less good.”
You will have a busy summer. Both the young team and the youth team. where will you play?
From what I understand, I will not decide. But if it was up to me? For me, I want to play for both teams. Give me a gap of two days between the two tournaments and I deserve both this and that.”
Having finished the subject of the last year of his career, we move on to the more complex story of his life. Reminder: Tony Toklomati, his father, signed with Maccabi Netanya in the early 2000s, but was expelled after it was claimed that he falsified his age and although he claimed to be 19, he was 31. While he was in Israel, he met his mother Iris who conceived him and since Tony returned to Benin, raising him with her own hands.
A lot was said about the father, when a film was also made about their relationship and the father’s visit to Idan’s Bar Mitzvah, who has not met Tony since. Now, Idan comes forward and tells his side of the life story.
“I think this whole story shaped my personality. It built a kind of emotional barrier for me, which is very helpful in the world of football with the whole media and fans thing. I remember when I was a kid, sometimes I would open Twitter or Instagram and write my dad’s name and then read comments and unpleasant things about him. It was not pleasant for me to see it in person. They said he lied about his age and would get kicked out and as a little kid it wasn’t fun to read that. All life tells you one story and then you see comments that tell another story. It’s not pleasant, especially when you’re a kid. But this is what built me in the end”, said Idan.
What version did they tell you??
“It’s not what they said, it’s what I still think is true. He arrived here, but in the country he came from (Benin) they didn’t exactly know his exact age. Yes, they knew he was more or less 19-20 years old. So he came here at that age and there was an article that exploded that he was lying about his age and they deported him.”
what do you believe?
“Obviously I don’t believe he’s lying. I do ‘Face Time’ with him and I can tell you that today, as far as I’m concerned, he looks 31 years old.”
You talked about it building a strong personality for you, explain
“Look, in football there are always ups and downs. Somehow with this story and the fact that I was able to overcome it, it will help me in the future in football. Because if a certain decline comes and I receive criticism from the fans or the media, then I will have to know how to disconnect and not react. I will have to remain restrained and know that the increase will come and actually with what I have been through, I will have the experience to deal with such things.”
How much you missed him in terms of everyday life?
“Obviously, you always lack a father figure at home, but I have my mother, who to me is mother, father, grandmother and uncle all together. I appreciate her on crazy levels. How does she always say? “I’m more involved but I don’t interfere.” She always Knows everything, but at a young age I told her to interfere less.”
What is your relationship with dad today??
“Listen, in general I don’t know him well enough so it’s a bit difficult for me to connect emotionally. You know he’s your dad, but because there’s less of an emotional connection, then it’s much less important for you to keep in daily contact etc. or go see him like everyone tells me I should. From time to time we talk on FaceTime or WhatsApp, but my mother translates for me because I still don’t know fluent French. My mother sends him all the updates from football, my videos and what happened to me. When they talk on Face Time, I sometimes join in.”
It is not a simple sentence to say that there is no emotional connection.
“I understand, but in the end, you don’t grow up with the person and don’t really know him, so it’s hard for you to connect with him emotionally. What I can say is that during the time he was here in Israel a few years ago at my bar mitzvah celebrations, it was very difficult for me to say goodbye to him at the airport.”
So you did develop feelings.
“I developed it, but now it’s gone. It’s like you break up with your girlfriend… so after ten years will you still love her?”.
He tries to be interested? After all, a child likes to consult with father, Probably when his father was an actor.
“Obviously. He and mother are in daily contact. But the problem is that I don’t understand him and he doesn’t understand me in terms of language. He doesn’t know Hebrew and I don’t know French.”
You didn’t think to visit him?
“I think about it a lot, but right now with the load of games and training in both the team and the national team, it’s hard for me to find the time. I haven’t seen him for several years, but in the end, when the right time is found, I believe there will be such a meeting. Mother is talking about meeting in Paris because I have family there on both his and her side.”
It bothers you that you are doing great things on the field, but always those who talk about you will sayHe is the son of the actor who was deported from Israel?’.
“Obviously it’s disturbing. We have to get out of it at some point and I believe and hope that the moment will come when they will talk about me as a toklomatic era and not as the era of the son of. This is my ambition.”
let’s talk about your childhood You came from a difficult neighborhood in Netanya.
“Let’s just say that if it weren’t for soccer, I probably wouldn’t be an astronaut. I knew I would have to invest in soccer, because from a young age I was told that I had something and I knew how to invest in the right thing. The neighborhood is one thing, but the friends I hang out with are something else and they are disconnected. It’s very It’s easy to fall, but I’m not connected to all the problems. As a child you find yourself outside a lot, so it’s your job.”
Your success is not just being an actor, but also to repay the mother for all the support.
“This is something very significant in the way I want to build for myself. To repay my mother for what she did and is doing for me. I swallow the words when I try to describe to you everything she did for me. Mother is everything to me and she gave me more than anything a child could ask for. She knew how to blame me for every wrong thing I did and to worry.”
Who is your role model??
“Someone I can’t say is everyone’s role model – Marcus Rashford. I admire him for his perseverance and his heart off the field.”
How do you keep your feet on the ground at such a young age??
“Listen, you get such and other messages from friends and family as soon as you conquer or cook, but you learn to ignore it. Stay focused on the goal and know that in the end you haven’t done anything yet.”
Stressful at age 18 Talk about having the next sale?
“It puts a little weight on the shoulders, but you learn to deal with it. To be a football player, you have to know how to deal with it because in the end you want to play in front of stadiums full of 50,000 spectators so what’s the talk of a journalist or two?” .
What are your career goals??
“I believe more in small goals. I had a mental coach a few years ago who taught me to look at the upcoming goals, at a few more months, at another six months. The current goal is for Maccabi Pet to move up a league and I will be one of the leaders in it.”
