Maccabi Haifa Pushes Ahead With Attacking Midfielder Search

Maccabi Haifa is moving to complete the signing of Dutch-Surinamese defender Radinio Balker from England’s Huddersfield for three years and around 300,000 euros. With that deal nearing completion, the club’s next priority is an attacking midfielder, a role Haifa sees as essential after lacking a true solution there last season.

The Greens have renewed talks with two January targets, Bruninjo of Karpaty Lviv and Lucas Assadi of Universidad de Chile, after failing to land either in the winter window. The club had come close to an agreement with Bruninjo in January, but the move collapsed over financial disagreements between the clubs, including the fact that his Brazilian team holds a sell-on percentage from his transfer to Lviv.

Bruninjo had previously signaled that he wanted to come to Israel despite the security situation, and his personal terms were already settled, so Haifa believes the deal is still feasible. Assadi also wanted the move in January, but his club’s price tag was too high, and Metalist Kharkiv also tried to sign him.

Since then, Assadi has signed a new contract with Universidad de Chile, so any move now depends heavily on the amount the Chileans demand. Haifa wants to finally check off the position it has lacked a real replacement for since Charan Cherry left two and a half years ago.