Maccabi Tel Aviv have agreed a loan deal for young midfielder Moshe Lugassi at Maccabi Petach Tikva
Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club have agreed a loan deal for Moshe Lugassi at Maccabi Petach Tikva, after the young midfielder had already made eight appearances for the senior side this season.
Lugassi began his career in the youth setup at Maccabi Tel Aviv and made his first appearance for the senior squad in 2010/11, racking up 85 minutes in the club's "Toto" (League) Cup tie against Bnei Sakhnin early on in the season. His maiden league appearance, the first of six, came towards the end of the season in a 2-2 draw against his current loan club Maccabi Petach Tikva. His senior appearances produced no goals or assists but he scored five times in league and cup competitions for the Under-19s in the talented side that won the league and cup double. Of the five, the most significant one came in added time of the U19 State Cup final, the first of two injury-time goals the team scored to beat Hapoel Beer Sheva 3-1 to raise the trophy.
In the 2011/12 season, Lugassi became a full-fledged member of the senior squad, where his talents as an uncompromising holding midfielder with a lethal left foot came to full expression. Lugassi played a significant role in Maccabi's 2011/12 European campaign and that same left foot scored the club's second goal twenty minutes from time in their 2-3 loss to Turkish side Besiktas in the group stage of the Europa League. A year later, in 2012/13, he was responsible for one of the most dramatic moments of the season. With Maccabi on their way to their first Israeli Premier League championship in a decade, Lugassi once again used that lethal left foot in matchweek 23 to net an absolute screamer from outside the area, the club's second in injury time, to overturn a 2-1 deficit against Bnei Yehuda.
Despite the arrival to the club of other midfield players, Lugassi continued to get chances and finished his first senior championship season with two goals and three assists in 27 appearances in all competitions. Last season, Lugassi spent the second half the season out on loan at Beitar Jerusalem.