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After Party Israel: Inflation of Legionnaires of Israeli Football

Turns out we opened a party cartel all the way to Thailand. Record amount, new goals and also national players attacking the second Romanian league. A snapshot of the Legionnaires, including those you did not know: from Eran Zehavi and Sean Weissman to Ben Levy and Idan Golan

• Eran Zehavi
• Gidi Kaniuk

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Are we on our way to the legionary peak of Israeli football in the 2020/21 season? The Corona crisis has significantly limited the already meager domestic market, but has agitated the free agent sector and opened up new options for many of them. If in the 80s and 90s only the seniors went abroad and in the previous decade they were also joined by second or third tier players in the Premier League, now also the representatives of the National League think abroad and discover markets such as the Armenian League or the Second Romanian League.

So let's get some order: who, when and where - this is what legionnaire inflation looks like.

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The seniors

* Mons Dabour and Ili Almkeys are the only representatives of Israeli football in one of the five top leagues in Europe. The two continue together in German Hoffenheim.

* Sean Weissman , the king of Austrian league goals and one of Europe's top scorers last season, is expected to leave Wolfsberger after one season and advance to a bigger team - perhaps in one of the top five leagues.

* Even Manor Solomon made progress in the coming weeks, given the growing interest of Italian Atalanta. The 21-year-old has won the Ukrainian championship with Shakhtar Donetsk, reached the Europa League semi-finals and will once again be in the home leg of the Champions League.

* Beavers Natcho , captain of the Israeli national team and the oldest legionnaire, opened his 11th season in Europe and the second in the Serbian partisan Belgrade, with reports in the background of the possibility of his return to the Premier League.

* Team star Eran Zehavi will remain at Guangzhou R&F until the end of his contract in December, before selecting the next team. With him is also Dia Seba in his second season in China.

* Lior Rapalov led Antwerp to win the cup for the first time since 1992, starting a tenth season in the Belgian league.

* Nir Bitton closed seven years at Celtic with seven championships, and during the previous season he signed a contract until the summer of 2023. With him, defender Hatem Abdelhamid continues for a second season.

* National team goalkeeper Ophir Marciano has started a fifth season at Scottish side Hibernian, with his contract ending next summer.

* Eli Desa starts second season in Dutch Vitsa uniform, after 11 games in the season that was interrupted due to the Corona.

More on the subject

• Reports: Atlanta will fund Manor Solomon deal by selling Malinowski
• Sean Weissman's agent hints that he's about to be sold, Eliel Peretz excites Wolfsberger
• Will move to the Netherlands? Feyenoord is interested in the Micah generation
• Ben Shehar played 45 minutes and scored a goal in a preparatory game: "I will improve from game to game"
• Idan Golan signed at the Romanian University Cluj: "The perfect place to continue your career"
• Get a good night's sleep: The method that will help you get rid of snoring quickly

Next in line

* After half a year of acclimatization in Belgium, Eden Shamir started a new season as a car player in Standard Liege.

* Alon Turgeman is set to continue at Wisla Krakow, following a successful end to the season in Poland. The striker has returned to Austria Vienna, which holds his ticket, and the transfer to Wisla, which has already been agreed, is delayed due to the injury from which he is recovering.

* Kenny Fencing has been returned to Anderlecht after half a season on loan from Polish Gdansk moves, but it waited recovers from his injury and then asked him for another season.

* After Dan Bitton was loaned to Maccabi Tel Aviv, two of the three legionnaires who won the Bulgarian championship with Ludogorets were left: Taleb Tuatha and Mavis Chibuta , with the status of the other much more secure.

* A pair, on paper at least, are currently also in the Greek Atromitos: midfielder Amir Agaev has arrived from the Azerbaijani Somgait, but stopper Tal Kahila may return to play in the Premier League after one season in Greece.

* The one who joined the Greek league is Boris Kleiman , who signed for two years at Volos after two years as the goalkeeper of the Cypriot Paralimni.

* Gadi Kinda , a representative of the Israeli soccer in MLS, continues to Sporting Kansas City. You can also add the Schoenfeld cabinet in Minnesota. In the USL League are Dekel Keenan (Sacramento) and Guy Abend (St. Louis).

* Goalkeeper Omar Hanin continues for another season in the German Mainz reserve team, while Joseph Ganda , who played in the German Augsburg reserve team, is currently on probation with Admira Wacker from the Austrian league.

* Striker Anas Mahamid holds a contract for another year at Wintartur from the second division in Switzerland, after scoring five goals in his debut season.

The New Legionnaires

* Ben Shehar went abroad again after five years at Hapoel Beer Sheva, when he was loaned to Epoel Nicosia in Cyprus for two years. This is his 11th team in Europe.

* More in the Cypriot league: Yarin Peretz from Hapoel Tel Aviv moved to Karmiotisa and Adi Konstantinos from Hapoel Ashkelon joined Olympiacos Nicosia.

* Eliel Peretz left Hapoel Hadera and signed at Wolfsberger, where he will probably be the only Israeli in light of Weissman's expected departure.

* And another representative in Austria in light of the success of the Israeli strikers there: Dor Hugi , who was an important screw in Maccabi Petah Tikva's league promotion. Polten.

* Niko Olsk , who in 2015 still played in the first division with Maccabi Kabilio Jaffa, finished four seasons at Maccabi Netanya and signed with BRCs and Alwick from the senior Dutch league.

* Max Grechkin left Betar Jerusalem and was loaned to Zoria Lugansk for one season The Ukrainian, who will play in the home stage of the Europa League.

* We also promised Thailand. Gidi Kaniuk , who has already played for Pekhatkur Tashkent from Uzbekistan, has returned for a second round in Asia and this time as a player for Buriram United, the senior Thai team.

* And the new popular destination: the second Romanian league. Gabriel Tamash brought Idan Golan from Hapoel Nof Hagalil to the University of Cluj , and it would not be unreasonable to think that more Israelis will arrive soon. Patrolol Ploisht joined Nir Lex from Hapoel Tel Aviv and Ben Levy from Hapoel Petah Tikva.

* And if there are already pairs: the Armenian Lori team, with the Israeli coach Albert Solomonov, signed Almog Ohayon from Hapoel Petah Tikva and agreed with Naor Abodi from MS. Ashdod (not yet officially moved). Tomer Suissa may also join.

* The end of Podgorano , the young talent of Maccabi Haifa, signed with the Italian luxury club Roma and will play in the youth team.

More on Walla! NEWS

Two new legionnaires in the same group: Nir Lex and Ben Levy signed with Petrolol Ploiesti

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In the waiting position

* After a decade on the British Isles , Biram Kiel has completed a contract at Brighton and a decision needs to be made on his new path. Will he stay in England, respond positively to offers from Turkey or will he eventually return to Maccabi Haifa?

* His good friend Tomer Hemed is also in a similar situation, after his release from Charlton who was relegated to League 1 (third in England). The 32-year-old striker also wants to continue playing in Europe, but the Maccabi Haifa option is on the table.

* National team goalkeeper Ariel Harush parted ways with Dutch side Sparta Rotterdam at the start of the Corona crisis and automatically returned to Hapoel Beer Sheva, with whom he has a contract for another season. But he will be out for a third term in Europe.

* Still without a team at the moment after a season abroad, but are due to sign in the Premier League: Omri Ben Harush (Lucerne), Eddie Gottlieb (Orenburg), Muhammad Badarna (Winterthur), Shai Ben David (Trapani) and if you will also Guy Assulin .

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