There is no questioning the ability and contribution that Eran Zahavi is expected to give this season to Maccabi Tel Aviv, but the biggest upgrade that the Yellows made this summer actually comes from a completely different player - Nir Biton, who will start today in the center of the Yellows' defense against Aris Thessaloniki in the Conference League qualifiers. A difficult task awaits him this season - to bring back the yellow iron defense, as we knew it in the previous term of coach Vladan Ivić.
The extensive experience gained by Beaton during his nine years in the Celtic uniform includes cooperation with Virgil van Dijk, participation in the Champions League including a game against Barcelona and Leo Messi, winning 18 titles, and of course appearances in the national team uniform.
All this made him this summer the man that Maccabi's professional manager, Barak Itzhaki, marked very high on his lists, long before the Serbian coach signed.
Bitton is like a glove for Maccabi, after two difficult years in which its defense became a filter.
Beaton had the option of continuing with Celtic at a reduced salary, but the 30-year-old midfielder was looking for a new challenge, after reaching a sense of exhaustion at the Scottish champions.
You can understand him, especially in light of the fact that the past season was a little less good for him.
He was no longer a permanent member of the team and made only 24 appearances, with the constant resounding of the disproportionate cheers of the team's fans, who turned against him after the red he received two seasons ago in the derby against Rangers (the champion that season).
Bitton in front of Messi in a Celtic uniform, photo: AFP
Unlike other players, who claim that returning to Israel is not an option, at the end of last season Bitton broadcast hints that he wants to come to Israel, and especially to Maccabi Tel Aviv, whose basketball team he has been a fan of for years. The yellow fans sent him hundreds of messages urging him to come to Kiryat Shalom.
These messages moved Bitton and increased his desire to come to Maccabi.
"Nir didn't have enough sympathy in Israel," the team says, "but he knew that as soon as he was in Maccabi Tel Aviv, he would get the recognition and sympathy he deserved." He felt this crazy love already in the first game against Aris, when he was replaced by Bloomfield to the applause of the crowd .
Maccabi Tel Aviv was the only team that entered into serious negotiations with him.
Ivić spoke with him personally, and together with the contract, which can reach half a million euros with bonuses, meant that Bitton would land in Kiryat Shalom.
"I wanted to get to a place where I would be the first violin," he said about two weeks ago, "Maccabi showed me that they wanted me all the way."
Bitton.
With all due respect to Zahabi, this is the serious upgrade of Maccabi Tel Aviv, photo: Ami Shoman
Although Bitton is a midfielder, Ivić designates him as the team's leading stopper, alongside a foreign stopper who should arrive in the near future.
Already in last week's game you could see how good the defense was with him and how hesitant he was when he was replaced.
His long balls are a weapon that not many teams have, and Maccabi believes: "Beton is a bit introverted, but a player who will make those next to him better."
Tonight (21:00) in Thessaloniki, after the 0:2 victory in the first game, Beaton will try to stop the Greek attack again, on the way to a possible prestigious meeting against Nice.
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