Maccabi Haifa have a piece of good news to carry into their Toto Cup opener: Jelle Bataille, the Belgian defender who missed the closing stretch of pre-season training camp with a knee injury, is back in full training, ONE reports.
Bataille, 26, joined Haifa from Antwerp and has become one of Barak Bakhar's more valuable defensive options precisely because of his versatility — he can slot into either a back-four or a back-three, a flexibility the coach has leaned on while shaping his system for the new campaign.
The squad picture is not entirely clean, though. Captain Yirin Levi was sent straight home upon arriving at the training complex after showing signs of a virus, while forward Andrea Novaković trained separately from the group for the same reason, according to the report.
Attention now turns to Tuesday's Toto Cup fixture against Ironi Kiryat Shmona, kicking off at 20:00. ONE reports that Brazilian left-back Wanderson Tsunami — signed on a two-year deal earlier this month — is set to make his first competitive start for the club in that slot, with Shon Goldberg's recent form at left-back said to be behind the change.
There is also a first squad involvement on the way for Nigel Lonwijk, the Dutch centre-back signed from Wolverhampton Wanderers via a loan spell at Luton Town, who could see some minutes off the bench against Kiryat Shmona as he continues settling into the group.
Not everyone is close to a return. Winger Manuel Benson is expected to rejoin full training only next week, while defender Elad Amir remains sidelined for roughly five months following surgery in London, leaving Bakhar to manage a squad still finding its full strength this early in the season.
For a club that spent the summer rebuilding parts of its back line — Bataille, Tsunami and Lonwijk all arrived within recent weeks — the Toto Cup game offers an early, low-stakes look at how those new pieces fit before the Israeli Premier League season proper gets under way.
