Maccabi Tel Aviv have loaned out six academy players in a single move, sending the group to second-tier partner club Hapoel Kfar Shalem, according to a report published Sunday afternoon by Sport1.
The six are defenders Ron Feldman, Idan Weinberg and Itay Barhoom, together with Rani Rival, Rom Savich and Yoav Junio. All are graduates of the club's youth department and were part of the academy side that won its championship, with several of the group regarded internally as candidates for eventual integration into the senior squad.
Their destination is a familiar one. Kfar Shalem, who compete in the Liga Leumit under coach Noam Shoham, operate as a de facto feeder side for the yellow-and-blues under a cooperation agreement between the clubs, an arrangement Kfar Shalem announced publicly and which channels Maccabi youth graduates into regular senior football in the second division.
The stated purpose of the moves is playing time. Rather than keeping the group in youth or reserve frameworks, the champions want the six exposed to weekly senior competition, with Weinberg the most prominent of the departing players: he has already travelled with the first team for European fixtures and carries squad number 52 on the club's first-team list.
The mass loan fits an established pattern at the club, which routinely farms out young professionals to gain minutes; Transfermarkt currently lists seven other Maccabi players on loan at clubs in Israel, Hungary and Ukraine, among them teenagers Daniel Tishler and Itay Zafrani.
The timing is no accident. Maccabi opened their trophy season on Wednesday with a 3-1 Super Cup victory over Maccabi Be'er Sheva, and the coaching staff are trimming and shaping the squad ahead of the league campaign and European qualification rounds, making a clear runway for the academy group elsewhere the logical step.
Loan durations and any recall or option clauses were not disclosed in the report, and at the time of publication neither Maccabi Tel Aviv nor Kfar Shalem had posted an official announcement of the six moves on their channels; the transfers are therefore attributed to the reporting outlet pending club confirmation.
