He gave up a triple salary in Turkey and chose Maccabi Tel Aviv, conquered the fans without effort, and comparisons to Kjartansson begin to hover over Kiryat Shalom • Alexander Peshich arrived injured and out of shape, but very quickly got into things and became the champion's banker • Tonight: The first derby His
Peshich with the special celebration.
There is an explanation for this
Photography:
Ami fat
For more than two years, Alexander Peshich was in charge of Maccabi Tel Aviv. One of the club's scouts kept in touch with him throughout that period, sending him messages from time to time. Last October, the Yellows managed to get their hands on the Serbian striker, who will try tonight (20 : 45) To score in the most important game for the fans - in a derby against Hapoel Tel Aviv.
So what made 28-year-old Peshich say "yes" to the Yellows about three months ago?
Orosh Nikolic and his family.
The Yellows' infamous player, who has not played football for almost two years, has been Peshich's best friend since childhood.
To understand how deep the connection between the two is, we will tell you that Nikolic served as a godfather at the white baptism ceremony of Peshich.
But above all, the main reason for choosing Maccabi is the striker's desire to live with his wife and son in a comfortable country, after living in Saudi Arabia for almost a year, because his wife refused to live in an extremist Muslim country.
In conversations with his associates, the striker explained that he has already made the big money, and now he "wants to enjoy football".
Peshich knew that professionally Maccabi Tel Aviv would also have a team that would suit his size and where he could star. This is the reason why he did not accept an offer from a Turkish team, which was willing to pay him three times the salary he receives in the yellow ranks and is estimated at 400,000 euros. 'Made a lot of mistakes in his career, in choosing teams like for example the French Toulouse, but at the time it came out of financial concern.
As a child, in the place where he came from (Nish, Yugoslavia, to which he donated 50,000 euros last March; SA) he did not have much money, "says a player close to the player." At Maccabi, if the team starts running, he will easily give 20- 15 expatriates every season. "
Meanwhile, the striker's balance sheet already stands at four goals - three in the league and one against Villarreal.
If we already mentioned Toulouse, where he played on offense alongside Ben Yader (Monaco) and Martin Braithwaite (Barcelona), then in the French team the striker replaced Eden Ben Best, who returned to Israel that season and signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv. The two began to be in contact from about that time That the Serb came to Israel.
"We thought it was Nikolic's case" 2
Peshich arrived in Israel slightly injured and out of shape.
It took him almost a whole month until he got his first minutes in a game against Sibaspur in the Europa League.
But from the moment he got into things - he became a banker in the lineup.
"We thought we fell again and that would be Nikolic's case," 2 recall in Kiryat Shalom, "very quickly people saw him and realized we had brought a cannon pioneer."
The Serb is exactly the striker the Yellows have been looking for since the departure of Vidar Kjartansson: not a player who needs the ball to the leg or head inside the box, but one who knows how to play outside the box, with his back to goal, runs into the field, has great technique The legs.
"Everyone thinks that because of his height he is like all the great strikers, that their head game is the standout, but he makes a tremendous movement without the ball and just doesn't stop running," the team says of him.
Peshich celebrates his goals with a special head-raising motion.
A few weeks ago he explained why: "I celebrate like this because no matter if you are in a good or bad period - you should always stay with your head held high."
In the past week, the Serb has not made headlines in the Israeli media.
It started with the confrontation with Slobodan Drapic, who the player claimed cursed him, which caused the Betar Jerusalem coach to apologize to him. "That.
In the player's environment, they say: "Peshich is a bit of a sensitive type, and in some cases it can be explosive. He freaked out at Yonatan because he is a very team player, and if he was in the same situation he would be removed.
At Maccabi there are those who believe that Peach can be "a bigger striker than Kjartansson", but the comparisons with the Icelandic giant are still early and the Serbs have a lot more to prove, in terms of ability and numbers, to get closer to those of the Icelander.
But one thing is for sure: tonight's goal in the derby will make all the yellow fans fall in love with it even more.
