Eran Zahavi, who completed his transfer from Italian side Palermo on Monday, has passed a medical and is expected to finalise his contract and start training with the club this week
Midfielder Eran Zahavi passed a medical yesterday after Maccabi Tel Aviv and his former club, Italian side Palermo, agreed terms for his transfer. Zahavi, who has negotiated a 3.5 year deal with Maccabi, is expected to finalise his contract and join his new teammates in training in the run up to Saturday's match against Hapoel Acco, which starts at 5 P.M. at Bloomfield.
The 25 year old Zahavi has been capped eleven times for the Israeli national squad, making his maiden appearance against Malta in the qualifiers for Euro 2012. The midfielder, who played in Israel for Hapoel Tel Aviv and Ironi Ramat Hasharon, signed for Palermo in Italy's top tier Seria A in the summer of 2011. He scored his first goal for Palermo in their fourth round match against Calieri, a match Palermo won 3-2. In his first season, Zahavi made 22 appearances in all for Palermo, two of them in the Europa League, scoring two goals and registering three assists. He missed the beginning of the 2012/2013 season due to injury, but returned to active duty in November 2012.
After completing terms with the player, Maccabi Tel Aviv sports director Jordi Cruyff had this to say to the official Maccabi Tel Aviv website: "After long negotioations requiring flexibility on the part of all the parties concerned, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Palermo and Eran Zahavi have reached agreement on Eran's transfer to our club. We're very happy he'll be joining our team and we welcome him to the Maccabi family with open arms. We look forward to Eran's contribution to achieving the ambitions Maccabi Tel Aviv have set out for themselves this season."
