Yaad Gonen has become the name on everyone's lips in Haifa football after his derby-defining display for Hapoel Haifa, but ONE reports that any future sale of the 20-year-old would barely enrich the club that developed him.
According to the outlet, Gonen's contract runs through the end of next season, and his registration belongs to Hapoel Haifa. But the money that would flow from a transfer is a different story entirely: roughly 35 percent would go to Hapoel Haifa, another 35 percent to National League club Hapoel Akko, and around 30 percent to Gonen himself.
That three-way split traces back to an August 2024 settlement, ONE reports, struck between Hapoel Haifa owner Yoav Katz and Tzahi Nakash, the club's former youth academy director, to close out a long-running financial dispute between the two men. As part of that deal, a chunk of the economic rights to Gonen's future sale was signed over to Hapoel Akko.
The practical upshot, per the report, is that if Hapoel Haifa were to cash in on their academy product, the club that raised him would end up sharing top billing on the payout with a National League side that has no role in his development, while Gonen and Hapoel Akko would be the biggest beneficiaries rather than Hapoel Haifa.
Katz himself is quoted saying he has "already begun receiving inquiries" about Gonen, suggesting interest is building even before any formal move materialises.
The timing of the report is no accident. Gonen was one of the standout performers as Hapoel Haifa came from behind to beat Maccabi Haifa 3-2 in the Haifa derby, scoring from around 20 metres after being teed up by Ariel Mendy and also playing a part in the sequence that produced Noam Steipman's own goal.
It capped an emotionally loaded afternoon for the player: Gonen started out in Maccabi Haifa's youth system before switching across the city to Hapoel Haifa's academy at around age 12, and he punished his old club in front of a packed Sammy Ofer Stadium.
None of this means a sale is imminent — no club has yet made an offer, and the ownership split only becomes relevant if and when Hapoel Haifa actually agree a fee. For now it is a structural quirk hanging over one of Israeli football's most promising young talents just as his stock starts to rise.
