Maccabi Tel Aviv produces a lot of players for Israeli football. According to a study by the CIES research institute conducted in April 2022, the Yellows are the club that gives the most credit to the players who grew up there, and thus players like Yonatan Cohen, Dor Peretz, Shahar Piven and others became significant players for the Yellows. Together However, naturally, when there is a lot of talent and also a demand for results and championships every season, quite a few talents fall under the radar because there simply isn’t room for everyone.
One of the players who played in the youth department of Maccabi Tel Aviv and did not receive credit is Goni Noor, who was now purchased by Maccabi Haifa for 2 million NIS from Po’el Jerusalem. Following the signing of Noor, we returned to players from the past, who you probably did not hear were in Kiryat Shalom , but didn’t really play. The talents that slipped under the radar.
Omri Glazer – transferred to the boys for Gabi Kanikovski
The goalkeeper of Hapoel BS was educated and went through all the children’s and boys’ teams of the Yellows, but did not make the jump in Kiryat Shalom. When Chaim Silves, then the director of the youth department in Ra’anana, saw him play, he did not wait even a moment. He read the map correctly, realized that there was a goalkeeper Has great potential that doesn’t get credit and was quick to approve Alon’s request to get Glazer from Maccabi Tel Aviv on loan.
And Ra’anana did receive Glazer on loan, and later Glazer’s ticket was transferred in full in exchange for another contact from Ra’anana’s youth department, Gabi Kanikowski. Does the name sound familiar to you?
Itamar Shabiru – not technical enough?
After growing up in B.S. and playing for a short time in Tobruk, in Kiryat Shalom they heard about a young player with an impressive ability to score goals. “He came to me in the second grade boys,” says Erez Belfer, Shabir’s coach in the second grade boys at Maccabi Tel Aviv. “He arrived a bit of a coward. A quality kid who works non-stop, but was afraid of confrontations and struggles. Over time, he got better at that too. He would take every opportunity to play with both hands, which is not obvious at a young age. Alongside this, there were players from Maccabi Tel Aviv We marked a lot at that time – like Elon Almog, Roy Ronan who was marked as more promising than broken. He was not the team player for me.”
After a season in which he scored 19 goals, including a goal he scored in the cup final right after coming off the bench on the way to winning the cup in the B-boys, he ended up in the hands of Eliezer Ben Aharon, who then coached the A-boys team of Maccabi Tel Aviv. An example of a player who will enter the list of those that Maccabi Tel Aviv decided to release, and in the end will add them in a purchase from the front door,” testifies Ben Aharon, currently the coach of the youth team of Hapoel Pt.
Those days were the days of the 2013/14 season. The beginning of Hapoel Be’er Sheva’s rise to the streak of three championships in the middle of the previous decade. “I remember that the scouting department of Maccabi Tel Aviv managed to get him,” continued Ben Aharon. “He had a knack for scoring goals, he had a good exit from the spot, but sometimes he wasn’t technically good enough compared to others. You can’t take what he got from Maccabi Tel-Aviv in the great envelope these years, and it’s hard to predict things like that, but I think in the end we gave up on him too quickly. I feel that there is also my responsibility somewhere in this matter, he didn’t get many minutes with me and as a club we saw There are players who stood out more. This was the yearbook of Omar Lekau, Or Desa, Roy Ronen and other players. Shabiro was not a regular team player for me.”
After two seasons in yellow, 19 goals in the first and 9 in the second, as well as several attempts made by Maccabi Tel Aviv to keep Itamar Shabiru, the 17-year-old boy from the Negev received an offer from his parent team to return and start training with Barak Becher’s senior team alongside his games in the team The youth of Hapoel B.S.
Jordan Shua – Disciplinary offenses caused the departure
Jordan Shua’s talent would not be disputed at any point, but he left Maccabi Tel Aviv as a youth for disciplinary reasons. Allegations of confrontations in training (sound familiar?), caused him to leave early, to Bnei Yehuda who gave him a chance despite everything.
Goni Naor – bench player in the youth team
Goni Naor never played in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s senior team. He was actually a bench player who was not marked as a great potential, in a team that starred Tomer Altman, Or Desa and Elon Almog. After not playing in the 2016/2017 season, he moved to Hapoel Jerusalem and played there until he was sold to Hapoel Jerusalem. A piquant detail – the coach of Goni Naor in the youth of Maccabi Tel Aviv who didn’t really let him play is none other than Guy Sarfati, the assistant coach of Maccabi Haifa and the combination between them will be particularly interesting.
Shawn Goldberg – was marked as a talent, but it was decided to transfer him on loan
Long before Maccabi Haifa, already in the youth department of Maccabi Tel Aviv, Goldberg was assigned as a stopper. Amir Turgeman, who coached him for two years, says: “He is a real winner, a man. He was mainly assigned as a stopper, and many times we switched him to left defender, because of his physiological dimensions.” At the age of 19, he made his debut in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s seniors, and in total he had 13 appearances in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s uniform, only one of them in the league . The rest is in the Toto Cup and the State Cup.
Actually the beginning of the end for Goldberg at Maccabi Tel Aviv, he was loaned to Hapoel Tel Aviv, as part of the Gili Vermot deal. Acclimatization was very difficult as a player who came from the city rival, especially in view of the fact that he moved as part of the purchase of Gili Vermouth. Goldberg and Ben Reichert did the opposite and the fans lived their lives in games and training. From there he continued on loan to Bnei Yehuda and Bitar.
After four seasons as a loaner from Maccabi Tel Aviv, Goldberg wanted to go to Europe. He took off with his agent, Gilad Katsav, and finalized his terms with the Swiss FC Zurich, but the teams did not reach an agreement on transfer fees and in the end he left Maccabi Tel Aviv. A without compensation and arrived at Hapoel Haifa.
“This is a mistake by Maccabi Tel Aviv, many times the coaches see an immature player and rush to release him,” analyzes Turgeman, “In Maccabi Tel Aviv it happens a lot, as in the case of Hatem Abdel Hamid. If they had waited with Shawn, they would have I don’t know who made the decision to release him, but his personality fits Maccabi Tel Aviv.”
Doron Leidner – left Kiryat Shalom, parted ways with Petah Tikva and landed in Hapoel Tel Aviv
Until the age of 15, Doron Leidner was in Maccabi Tel Aviv, but then he left. “Toward the age of 15, they offer the youth players contracts, but Maccabi didn’t offer me anything,” the defender said at the time. “Nir Levin was in charge of the youth department and liked Doron, but He left,” added the defender’s father, Moshe, “Patrick van Leeuwen replaced him and Maccabi tried to delay us. I felt unappreciated. If he had crossed the age of 15 and stayed there without a contract, the way to leave would have been much more difficult.”
“I was surprised that Doron left Maccabi Tel Aviv, there is no doubt that I would have kept him,” explained Nir Levin, “he caught my eye already when he was playing for children and I really like him as a player. He has a strong left foot and good technique. His talent is outstanding and he has a good character. After the time in yellow, I worked with him in the Israeli national teams. Time will tell if Maccabi made the right decision or missed it.”
Even before Leidner moved to Hapoel Tel Aviv, he arrived at Maccabi Tel Aviv after being courted by Ofir Luzon. However, the defender did not get playing minutes under coach Nitzan Demari and left after six months: “You saw my talent there,” Leidner repeated, “but I probably didn’t get opportunities because I was physically small. I wanted to play and in the end everything worked out and I ended up at Hapoel Tel Aviv.” .
