Maccabi Haifa is back from the World Cup break with a new sponsor, an electric vehicle brand. But in practice, coach Barak Becher is still looking for a charging cable for his team. A football team is not an electrical product, but something that needs to be manipulated and refreshed.
As soon as there is saturation, the business can be dismantled. Maccabi Haifa is going through a rejuvenation crisis. This is a time when only new blood will help things flow better. Omar Atzili, Charon Sherry, Dolev Haziza, Dean David and others, are not in their usual form. You can’t blame them, it’s a natural thing during a season, certainly in light of the fact that they returned after a World Cup break of more than a month.
Maccabi Haifa was a team on fire at the beginning of the season, but like any flame, as time passes, the coals whisper and you need to add oil or wood to the fire, to rekindle the spark. There are trees outside and someone has to go outside, work hard, shape something and bring it to Kfar Galim.
It is true that the forest is sparse, but when you need to start a fire there is no choice but to bring what is available. Maybe they don’t have what Ironi KS had, which at the time brought in David Solari, or Hanan Meman who became the player of the season in January in Hapoel BS’s third championship. Meman is perhaps the best example, Barak Becher who coached him that season will testify. So maybe the forest is thin, but here are some options that if they try to shape them, nothing will happen by itself.
Dia Saba is perhaps the best option, but according to publications he will sign in Turkey. After him there is Omri Altman, who is having a good season in the Cypriot league, Osher Davide dried up in Standard Liege and his hunger can rekindle the flame in Maccabi Haifa. Besides, Biram Kiel is the first player I would sign. True, Goni Naor came from Po’el Jerusalem, but he is good for the future and Maccabi Haifa needs here and now. A strong, aggressive Kiel and 30 thousand fans in Sami Ofer is not what will make his legs tremble.
He knows the club and its expectations, is a leader on the field and will fit in quickly. Kiel is like a captain after one of those left for the Japanese league. Besides, it can be a nice closing of the circle, that a player like Biram Kiel will end his career where it started, and with a third championship title in a row. It may be that the front part also needs to be refreshed.
KS city striker, Itamar Shabiru, is an option that can be explored, but it is easier to cut trees than to release the leading striker of Izzy Sheretzky in the midst of survival struggles.
Maybe we should go overseas. Thai Bribo doesn’t earn millions in the Austrian league and money can take him out of there. It may be that none of these names will come in the end, but when you want to survive and rekindle the fire, you have to gather from the forest what is left.
There are four more days until the window closes, not much time. True, the supply is not large, but the facts are that when Maccabi Haifa invested, it reaped the rewards. Omar Atzili was brought in in January of the first championship season and set the club on fire, Mavis Chibuta was the investment of last season and suddenly feels like someone who gives more options. Apart from them, Yankel’a Shahar invested millions of euros in Frendzy Piero, Dean David and others, but it was an investment that brought success and a big return. This January window can be remembered at the end of the season as someone who rekindled the fire in Maccabi Haifa, or it put it out, and passed the torch to a new champion.