Maccabi Haifa are closing in on the most profitable piece of business in their recent history. Heorhiy Yermakov, the club's Ukrainian goalkeeper, is set to be sold to Metalist Kharkiv for a fee reported at around €3m, with Saturday morning reporting indicating a formal announcement is expected within 48 hours.

The sum remains reported rather than confirmed by either club, but Israeli coverage is already billing it as a record sale — roughly thirty times the €100,000 Haifa were said to have paid for him.

It is a remarkable arc for a goalkeeper whose story has always carried an Israeli thread. Yermakov, 24, was born in Kyiv to a Ukrainian Jewish family; his parents emigrated to Holon after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A product of Shakhtar Donetsk's academy, he established himself at Oleksandriya, where Haifa spotted him early. The club secured his rights and loaned him back for the 2024-25 season, in which he was named the Ukrainian Premier League's goalkeeper of the year before finally arriving in Israel, where he made 32 appearances wearing the number 89 shirt.

One season, it turns out, was enough to multiply his value many times over. If the reported figure holds, the deal would extend a striking summer for Israeli clubs in the export market — Hapoel Jerusalem completed a record €1.6m sale of John Otomewo to Stade de Reims only this week — and hand Haifa a war chest at precisely the moment their squad rebuild demands one.

The succession plan is already in motion. Israeli reporting says Omri Glazer will sign as Yermakov's replacement, the final act of a pursuit that has run all summer.

As covered on Friday, Red Star Belgrade are said to be demanding around €250,000 before releasing the Israel international, who has reportedly agreed personal terms on a return to the club where he won the 2020-21 championship. Selling one goalkeeper for a reported €3m while paying a fraction of that to land his successor would, on paper, be the cleanest exchange of Haifa's window.

The morning's other item is more delicate. Manuel Benson's situation will be examined, the report says, as the winger works his way back from injury.

The Belgian, who joined permanently from Burnley on 1 February 2026 on a contract running to June 2027, has a long and documented history of Achilles tendon trouble from his Burnley years, and the Israeli report frames his current recovery in those terms. Transfermarkt's injury log, however, records his most recent absence as a hamstring strain dating from early May. Either way, Haifa must now decide what a fit Benson is worth to their season — and what an unfit one costs.

The rest of the briefing points to a club accelerating through pre-season. Andrija Novakovich, whose agreement was announced last week, is expected in Israel in the coming days for his medical and signing; Yarin Levy is in line for improved terms after Tisha B'Av, with a reported €2.5m release clause; and a training match against Hapoel Kfar Saba is scheduled for Tuesday.

Nothing is done until it is announced, and the fee, the timetable and the record framing all rest on Saturday's report. But with the Toto Cup opener against Hapoel Haifa looming at the end of the month, the shape of Haifa's summer is suddenly legible: one goalkeeper sold at an extraordinary profit, another coming home to replace him, and a €3m question already answered before the season has begun.

Update, 18 July: Maccabi Haifa and Metalist Kharkiv have now agreed terms on Yermakov's transfer, according to aligned reporting in Israel and Ukraine on Saturday evening. Neither club has made an official announcement, but accounts on both sides describe the deal as settled, with the goalkeeper expected to travel to Ukraine within the coming week to complete the move.

The fee continues to be reported at approximately €3 million, though Ukrainian reporting earlier this month placed the compromise closer to €3.2 million; no figure has been confirmed by either club. Personal terms were agreed in early July, and Haifa are reported to be lining up Omri Glazer as Yermakov's replacement.

Update, 19 July: agreement has reportedly now been reached on Yarin Levy's new contract, though nothing is yet signed — the formal announcement is being held back until after Tisha B'Av. Levy, returning after two seasons on loan at Beitar Jerusalem, is in line for a significant salary increase, and the latest account says the deal will carry no release clause covering the current or winter transfer windows, a shift from earlier reporting of a €2.5m clause.