Jordi Cruyff, the Yellow & Blue Sports Director addressed the assembled media prior to the 1 vs. 2 matchup on Saturday evening, 21:00 at the Netanya Stadium on Matchday 21 of the Ligat Ha’Al. Cruyff discussed winger Tal Ben Chaim staying with the Club, the transfer window and of course about the match against Beer Sheva:

“I think all of the games for us are important. This game is being played against the first position team and it’s important, but this is a marathon and a long season. The league is not finished on Saturday and there are 3.5 more months.”

Will Beer Sheva look for a draw:

“A draw if I were the coach of Beer Sheva would be acceptable. But I have our own plans at Maccabi which is what we concentrate on.”

Still being the coach:

“If I was disappointed I would change it.”

Players come and players go:

“That’s part of the transfer period.”

Transfer window rumors:

“I didn’t read anything on the website about these things and it’s our policy not to comment until we have an official statement. It’s awkward that we have a huge game on Saturday night and the transfer window closes tonight.”

Last match against Beer Sheva:

“Ball possession is vital to our game, but we gave up the ball in Beer Sheva and gave up some soft goals.”

The new Brazilian players:

“We will see in the trainings if they are ready but because they are foreigners they are still adapting. They also had three weeks off so they are also getting back into shape.”

Injured players status:

“We’re still assessing the situation with the injured players and hope that some will be available for the game.”

The Tal Ben Chaim situation:

“I can imagine this was a difficult situation for Tal. But we felt that it wasn’t the appropriate time for us. If I look at the stats, he had the most mileage after Eyal Golasa. If he was a player thatdidn’t want to be here, he wouldn’t have put on the effort that he did. If I felt that the didn’t have his mind in Maccabi I wouldn’t have started him. His stats have always been very good and they were good against Haifa and the fans should know that. He risked himself in the Haifa match and he wouldn’t have done that if he felt differently. He celebrated the goals and he’s happy to be here.”

More about Ben Chaim:

“I explained the situation very clearly to his father and this is part of football. Everything has a logic to it and no player has a buyout clause in January at Maccabi. We are a club that sells players to Europe and our history shows that. His buyout clause at this moment is his main clause and I’m not sure if there will be a new contact.”

A 6th foreigner for Maccabi:

“You’ll know tonight.”