By right, not by grace Israel today

Although he was the captain of Hapoel Tel Aviv, the club's management never gave Uriel Degani a feeling that he was wanted • The move of the brakeman to Betar Jerusalem breathed life into the team's defense and made him pay •

• cereal.

  Already waiting to feel the heat of the crowd at Teddy

  Photography: 

  Maor Alexelsi

One of the biggest and most well-publicized passes of the 2020/21 season is without a doubt that of Uriel Degani, who left Hapoel Tel Aviv and signed with the hated rival Betar Jerusalem.

This transition included slander, slander, threats, but eventually came to fruition.

Tomorrow, the former red captain will meet the ex, and it's just the time to look at what he's been through so far at home and away.

Three main reasons why Degani switched to wearing yellow and black: the great desire of Yossi Benyon and Roni Levy, the previous professional team, to sign him;

The good relations between the club owners Moshe Hogg and Itzik Nisnov;

And the fact that Degani was barely hurt in terms of salary, signed a longer contract and was promoted to a team that is fighting at the top of the Premier League.

Betar may not confirm this, especially after the same announcement and announcements that they exercised the option on Degani (400,000 euros), but a source involved in the details of the deal claimed in a conversation with "Israel Today" that "they

They received Degani for free. "And if this is the case, it indicates that Hapoel had no prior intention to keep Degani, although she tried to present it that way when she claimed that he would stay if he reduced his salary by 40 percent, but only wanted to get rid of it.

Wolfson says that Hapoel's idea to part with the veteran stopper began to pop into the Nissnov brothers' minds as early as April, when the teams were shut down in the first Corona wave.

The reason: the owners did not like the treatment of them by Degani and Maor Bouzaglo, who represented the players in the negotiations for the cut.

To this was added in the summer the economic uncertainty following the corona season without revenue and the high salary of the brakeman, which eventually led.

"The only one who wanted Uriel to stay at Hapoel Tel Aviv is Nir Klinger, but no one there states anything but Nisnov," said a source close to Degani, "they may have told Klinger 'this is what' and he had nothing to do about it.

To Omri Altman, they did not cut anything, although they also asked him to cut.

Probably because they wanted him and Degani did not. "

Cereals in the verb uniform.

Perpetual collision course with the Nisnovs // Photo: Alan Shiver 

Drapich, Barda and the open conversation

Despite the bad blood flowing between Degani and the Hapoel management, if the brakeman scores on Saturday against the Reds he is not going to celebrate.

"Hapoel fans are suffering anyway, I will not do anything for them," the 31-year-old brakeman shared with his Betar friends this week. "These fans have appreciated and loved me for years, so why should I celebrate inside them?"

Degani remained in contact with only one player from Hapoel - Altman.

His integration into Betar was so quick, thanks to the fact that some of the players - such as senior players Eliran Atar, Ofir Krief, Idan Vered - played with him in the past at Maccabi Haifa or the Israeli team and made sure that his integration was easy.

It's just that the league hasn't started yet, and Degani has already seen how Benyon and Levy, who insisted on joining him, are no longer part of the team following the relegation against Tauta in the Europa League qualifiers.

The change of coaches could have hurt Degani, as not every coach likes the legacy of his predecessor, but in practice Degani has only strengthened his position, as the following story will attest.

Drapich and Barda.

Will they get the best out of Degani?

// Photo: Oren Ben Hakon 

Slobodan Drapic and Shay Barda usually take players for short personal conversations, but this one with longer-than-usual cereals.

"We trust you, you are the best brake in Israel and fit Bull to our method," the coaches said, revealing to him that they tried twice to add him to their previous team Maccabi Netanya (once after the relegation season of Hapoel Tel Aviv and another time later). Has not yet played in the coaches' new term, but their message to the player has been sharp and clear.

Degani has not yet felt the warmth and love of Betar fans. Maybe today it will happen, when the fans come to drive the players crazy in the concluding training session. Professional. "Itamar Nitzan is the happiest who has Degani on defense.

"Suddenly he has a strong, fast brake, a national team brake, it gives quiet," Betar says, "one has to see the respect that Antoine Conte acquires for him to understand how much he is valued here."