Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Kfar Saba are expected to continue their cooperation this season, with Haifa aiming to give its young prospects more senior minutes. The club believes last season was positive in that regard, and three academy players, Itai Ehud, Amit Arzi and Yablo Gatachew, will begin preseason training with the first team.
Several players are likely to be loaned again to Kfar Saba, including Hamza Shibli, who arrived in January and had a successful stint, along with Tomer Lenz and Adi Tzur. Daniel Darzi, who already featured for Maccabi Haifa’s senior side, is also on the list. Kfar Saba wanted Darzi in January, but Haifa kept him in Carmel so he could be part of the youth team’s UEFA Youth League campaign.
Darzi was an overage player for the youth side this season, and the expectation is that he will have a strong year in the Liga Leumit and then return to the first team. Two other youth players wanted by Kfar Saba are Niv Gabai and Itai Solomon. Gabai prefers to stay in the Premier League and has interest from Ironi Kiryat Shmona, while Solomon may remain an overage player in the youth setup.
Other players who may ultimately end up at Kfar Saba are Nehorai Yifrach, Shral Cohen and Moran Wahab. All three will not remain at Maccabi Haifa and are under contract for next season.
