What Eran Zehavi did not go through this season. From violent robbery, through injuries upon injuries to reviews alongside compliments. Moments after it ended, he found time to stay with Nadav Yaakovi on the podcast “The Frequent Traveler” and told about the surprising reason why he decided to move to PSV, about the pair of games against Maccabi Tel Aviv, about the injury that made him think about retirement and his non-future far away.
Every time they talk about you in the context of Turkey, let’s explain once and for all what happened to them.
“There was talk of Fenerbahce, but the most serious and real offer I received was from Besiktas and not from Fenerbahce. There were both, there was also Bashakhir and a few teams from Turkey. There was noise and everything, but then PSV came into the picture.”
Let’s go back to the summer you signed with PSV. What happened to Ajax?
“There was an offer from Ajax, can tell stories. Brother Tan picked up the phone for me, there was an offer from them when I was in China, but it did not work out with the Chinese. You were the offer from them even in the days when Peter Boss coached Ajax. , Which gave me the feeling of a real key player, and the club treated me the way I wanted them to treat me – I wanted them to treat me like a star, not another Ajax player. I know how Jordi Cruyff would work for Maccabi Tel Aviv – that he would take players to Maccabi Haifa so they We will have rotation players, and the main thing will not be there. I went with my believing ego, PSV it’s a big club. Israel does not understand enough what a PSV is and how big it is. Everyone who was in my game told me it was wow. “
Do most people here in Israel value the Israeli league more than you think it’s really worth?
“On the one hand, yes, on the other hand, there is a lot of unrealized potential in Israeli football. There are good players here, I trained with them in the national team. On the other hand, all reference to the football profession and everything that happens around it (training complexes, media, audiences and culture) is lacking.”
“We have to be honest and say that we are not a football country, that we do everything within our limits, and that we do our best. It is realistic to dream of a big tournament with the amount of players and facilities, but to state that this goal seems wrong to me. “Talents and conditions. Let’s stop putting pressure on the Israeli players and coaches who did not receive the support and knowledge they receive in other countries. We were Level 4 in the last campaign, Level 4! Let’s be realistic and stop declaring that we invented football.”
“Yossi Benyon knows what things should look like. He was at the highest levels, if he succeeds, it’s already a matter of budgets and such. Willy Rotensteiner is a failure? Let me disagree. I know what was before him and I know what was after him, it’s heaven and earth “.
Tell us about the injury you underwent surgery for.
“It happened in my last training session at PSV, I got a small piece of cartilage and I was very stressed. I told myself what a bad timing, I was supposed to sign with a new team and it has now happened. It has already crossed my mind not to train anymore and play anymore, “Until the end.” Then what happened happened – I sent to my family, my mother and my wife who seemed to me to have finished their careers after this injury.
“I felt something had happened. I was not injured the whole career, I said maybe it’s something of a strap, I never experienced it. I’ve never been operated on, I was afraid it might be the last time I stepped on a football field. If I was injured for 8 months, not sure I would want to come back. I had stress and hysteria until the MRI. No one understood why I was not on the roster for the last game. The team doctor told me it was not ligaments, and I was under hysterical pressure. The next day we did an MRI. “The thoughts are running. I calmed down, and the family calmed down.”
What do you have to say about those who say you are an adult?
“Ronaldo continues to conquer without a break, so why should he retire. Same thing Salah, so why should they retire? Zlatan? I think he should retire. He has been injured a lot and less playing. If I were in his situation, I would retire. “
Unfortunately you miss the team games because of the injury.
“I was told after the operation not to run for three weeks, but yesterday I already ran. The doctor was a bit shocked and a little angry, but told me that as long as I have no pain then everything is fine. He told me to take a few more days before I even think about trying to play for the team. “The surgeon took me down from that. If I eat, I will take a risk for the team.”
How was the breakup at PSV?
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What is your most central consideration in choosing your next group?
“I have tables even though I do with the elements I decide. The professional side, the family side and the financial side. I put a lot of things at stake. Football is the basis for everything. The family will be very influential, but also very good for us abroad.”
“When I’m out of Israel I have a lot of time with my children – I have a lot of time to take them to school, to help with homework. They are very close to me, and it’s fun for me. I want to embrace that time with the children. It does not mean better language or “There it’s less good. I’m sure we’ll make a good decision in the end, I can’t make a perfect decision because there will not be one – but the decision I make, I will go with it to the end and believe in it 100%. That’s what it will be.”
Do you have a deadline for yourself?
“I do not put a deadline for the decision. If a team puts a deadline, then it will get off the episode and everything is fine.”
The most influential coach, Paolo Sousa, is the coach of Flamengo from the Brazilian league.
“He influenced me the most. I will not forget that he told me that I should represent Israel, show that Israelis can work hard and represent us with dignity. It gave me this stamp to believe in myself to the end, and I did it. I talked to Paulo Sousa, I asked what I have to ask about Botafogo. I’m very divided about these things – every option is good. For me it’s inconceivable that a 35 year old Israeli player wants him in Brazil and offers what they offer, and fans frantically. “It is very important to me to represent Israel, certainly in this period of what we think of in the world. This is something that is very important to me. At the same time, Israel can also be wonderfully represented. I have not decided yet.”
How important is it for you to tell the story of Israel in the world?
“Last year when he was the ‘Guardian of the Walls’ I had Muslim players on the team with me. I’m on my Instagram very Zionist and I posted a lot of things about supporting Israel. I posted a lot of things about Israel and suddenly I saw players on my team, Muslims who are my friends, uploading free Palastaine. I approached them and said, ‘Why did you bring this up?’. They apologized because the club had already spoken to them, because PSV was very sensitive. I went to the player and said, ‘Do you know where Gaza is? ? Then I realized they did not know anything. He told me that a friend of his asked him to come up so he came up, you understand? We are in a limited information system, this is a war that has no chance at all. “But I’m not talking about it.”
Let’s go back to PSV. How much has it affected you that you were replaced in games, something that has not happened to you in years?
“It really hurt me that I was replaced by PSV, and I talked about it with the coach. Go back to the statistics, and see how many goals in my career I scored from the 70th minute to the end. A lot of my goals are scored in those minutes, those are the minutes I express myself. The coach “He told me that he is not interested in these statistics, that he is happy with me, but he needs me for an entire season and he needs me fit for all the games. Per minute of play in the league – I am second to Sebastian Haller in the Dutch league, and for me it’s amazing.”
Why did you actually go to PSV?
“To tell you the truth? I went because we annoyed me, they said I was not successful in Europe. It annoyed me so much that the person who scored the most in the champions, in the Premier League, in the national team – how dare you say I’m not level? It annoyed me at levels, “It itched me and bothered me. It’s true that I wanted to make amends in Europe, I took into account that I might be killed in the media if I failed, but I was not afraid.
Let’s talk about Eli Desa, who’s a bit under the radar.
“He had an amazing season, and rightly so. He raised his standards. Vitesse is a great club, I will not say that it is a better team than Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv in terms of football, but in terms of facilities – there is nothing to compare at all.”
In 3 years you scored 27 goals for the team, do you have an explanation for that?
“I really like all the coaches who were with me, it’s not personal, but I’ll explain why it is. Go to the team, look at what role I played, how many minutes I played and what style of play we played and then you will understand. I had a very big quarrel with Eli Gutman, which I did not understand Him and he did not understand me, and we could not get to the equal valley.We went to play in Wales and did 0: 0.It is true that Wales is better than the Israeli team, but when you want to qualify for the Euros or the World Cup and there is a possibility to do it, you have to do it. 1, and I played on the wing, I did not understand his decision. I also played for Elisha many times on the side. I was told to bring the ability from Maccabi to the team, so I said no problem, “To be good. In the team of that time, I did not even remember that I got into situations, I do not remember the misses.”
So with Willie things worked out for you personally.
“It didn’t work out for me personally, but it worked out for the team. We played more offensively, the whole team scored, and not just Eran Zehavi. We absorbed too much, and we will have to improve on that.”
Will Miguel Vitor help the team advance to a major tournament?
“I do not know him well enough because I have not played with him, but he still plays in the Premier League and not in a major Europa League, and it is difficult to play in European intensity. I do not blame the defense, but the defensive game. Willie would guide us, but things were not implemented When you play for Maccabi Tel Aviv, BS and Maccabi Haifa – you are with the ball most of the time. You control 70% of the time, and then suddenly in the team you have to defend against attacks at a different level in much of the game, and it’s hard to deal with. “So you’re used to these things and these levels. Willie and Andy have managed to get more out of this team, for example putting Eli Desa on line 5, you earn him as a better player.”
Alon Hazan said there will be no more than 5 on defense
“I agree that you can vary, each game individually. You have to be flexible and practical – not just 5 in defense and not just 4 in defense, we have to adapt to each game individually.”
You are a person who likes to close circles. Do you feel that you closed the circle with the stadium in Copenhagen after you snatched a 5: 0 with the team there?
“I realized that I was coming to this stadium with PSV Eindhoven. When I played for PSV, I understood the difference in mentality rather than coming with the Israeli team, I felt it against Maccabi Tel Aviv. I would not say that the players underestimated, but I did not feel for one moment that there was a chance that we would not get through it. I’ll tell you something we do not know, when Roger Schmidt made us an assembly – he calculated 13 games in six weeks. We looked and asked him who said we would move? He calculated it as if we had already passed. I will not tell you that it was easy for us, it was not easy, but we did not feel for a moment that there was a risk. Then you understand how Austria came against the Israeli team. If they get a goal, they will not be under pressure. This is completely one thinking, you play with better pressure – more relaxed. Not with bad pressure from the Israeli team. ”
It is always said of you that you know everything. How many exiles do you have today?
“No I do not know”.
What do you think of Ambape’s decision?
“I loved her. Come on, he played with them in negotiations like a champion. I think if he had moved to Real Madrid now, how many years would he have played there? In my opinion it is before the peak. His next move will be Real Madrid, and if not Real Madrid then Manchester City. For me PSG is one of the biggest clubs in the world, it has big players by its side, why move? He is in his city, in his group, with his language. He can develop his potential in Paris much more than in Real Madrid, in Madrid he will encounter difficulties he will not encounter in Paris. Wait. “He has made phenomenal negotiations. Real can be hurt, but in two more years when he will be the king of goals and break records – no one will tell him no. PSG is a huge club, no less big than the others.”
Who will win the Champions League final? Liverpool or Real Madrid?
“Liverpool are a better team. They deserve it, they’re doing a crazy season, pushing themselves to the edge. I saw statistics yesterday that in the last four years, City have made one point more than Liverpool. It’s crazy. And that was not enough, in any other season it would have worked. ”
Who would you rather play with – Guardiola or Klopp?
“It’s most obvious to say Guardiola, but I think I see a connection of the players with Klopp that I would have preferred.”
Who will take the trophy?
“The truth is that it does not matter so much to me. I think that if Maccabi Haifa takes it will be historic, I do not think there were four titles in the season. On the other hand, they come after championship celebrations and need to get down to earth. . “BS should come from a stronger mentality. If it was a net ability, I think Maccabi Haifa would have won, but it is not.”
How do you sum up a career like yours?
I believe I will put out a book, series, movie or something of the sort. Eventually things have to back up. I will put out something that will pass on to the younger generation, that they will see struggles, that things do not come easily. In the end, behind every decision there is such a big story. Throwing the captain’s ribbon, etc. Let’s just say there are many hours here for the film. “
