Hapoel Tel Aviv are reshaping their left-back department this week: academy graduate Ofer Gelbard is closing in on a loan move to Hapoel Kfar Saba, ONE reports, just as the Reds push to complete the return of a more familiar face, Yahav Gurfinkel, from Cyprus.
According to ONE, Gelbard's loan to Kfar Saba could be finalized as soon as Sunday. The National League club have been tracking the 19-year-old for some time, and the two sides are now understood to have reached an agreement in principle over the move.
Gelbard, a product of the Hapoel Tel Aviv youth system, signed a lengthy contract extension with the club last season but currently sits as the squad's only reserve left-back behind first-choice Doron Leidner. He spent last season on loan at Maccabi Jaffa before returning to Bloomfield in January, and with regular football hard to come by in Elyaniv Barda's senior squad, a fresh loan to gain minutes makes obvious sense for player and club alike.
The move comes as Hapoel Tel Aviv edge closer to bringing back a player who knows the left flank at Bloomfield well. ONE reports the club are advancing on a deal to sign Yahav Gurfinkel, whose path at AEK Larnaca has been complicated after the Cypriot club brought in a rival for his position. The report describes the signing as very close to being finalized.
Hapoel Tel Aviv had already circled Gurfinkel earlier in the transfer window, with Sport5 reporting in July that the club viewed him as their preferred reinforcement on the left of defence while he weighed whether to stay in Cyprus or return home. Gurfinkel, who came through the Maccabi Haifa academy, previously spent two seasons at Hapoel Tel Aviv between 2022 and 2024 before a move to Chinese Super League side Chengdu Rongcheng and, this past January, a switch to AEK Larnaca on a two-and-a-half-year contract.
The timing is no coincidence. Hapoel Tel Aviv are in the middle of the biggest European run in the club's recent history, having eliminated Ludogorets and GKS Katowice in Conference League qualifying before holding Atalanta to a 0-0 draw away in the first leg of their playoff tie last Wednesday. The return leg is set for Thursday at a neutral venue in Miskolc, Hungary, with more than 4,000 Israeli supporters expected to travel to DVTK Stadium as the club chase a place in the competition's league phase.
With a squeezed European and domestic calendar ahead, adding depth on the left — while sending a talented but currently blocked academy player out for regular games — fits the broader picture of a club trying to balance first-team strength with player development.
