Maccabi Haifa have reached an agreement with United States striker Andrija Novakovich, adding a proven central-forward profile to Diego Flores's rebuild. The club said the 29-year-old is expected in Israel next week for medical examinations. That condition is decisive: Haifa have an agreement, not a completed registration, and the player should not be described as signed until the medical process is finished.
Novakovich arrives from Italy after a season in Serie B in which he made 33 league appearances and scored five goals. At 1.92 metres, he offers a reference point between centre-backs and a target for deliveries into the penalty area. He has also spent enough of his career working outside the United States to understand the tactical demands of European club football, rather than arriving as a development project.
The move changes the shape of Haifa's forward search. Flores has wanted a striker capable of fixing defenders centrally while the wide players attack the spaces around him. Novakovich's frame can help the team play through direct passes when a high press closes the first build-up route, but his value cannot be measured only through aerial duels.
Haifa also need clean lay-offs, penalty-area occupation and repeat movement across the front line. Five goals in 33 league matches is not, on its own, a guarantee of a high-volume scorer — it is a recent record that requires context. A striker's output depends on minutes, chance quality and role, and Haifa will need to build a service structure that brings him closer to goal.
If he spends too much of each match receiving with his back to goal, far from the box, the physical profile will solve progression problems without necessarily solving finishing. That distinction will matter as the coaching staff design his role.
The medical requirement deserves more than routine wording. Until the examinations are completed, the club retain the ability to evaluate fitness, and the parties have not crossed the final administrative threshold. Presenting the agreement as a finished transfer would erase the exact contingency Haifa placed in their own announcement. The next confirmed step is his arrival; a contract announcement should follow only if the checks are satisfactory.
For Haifa, the timing is useful. The domestic cup phase begins later in July, giving the staff a narrow window to integrate a new number nine before the league programme settles. Training work will need to cover pressing triggers as well as attacking patterns — a tall striker can make a team more direct, but Flores will want that outlet connected to the midfield rather than isolated above it.
Novakovich therefore represents a clear roster decision without yet being a completed one. Haifa have selected size, experience and penalty-area presence for the next stage of their reconstruction. The medical will determine whether that plan becomes a signing; the football afterwards will determine whether the team can turn those traits into more reliable chance creation.
