Manuel Benson is back in the Maccabi Haifa squad for the first time in three months, with the winger named among Barak Bachar's group for Tuesday's Toto Cup fixture away to Ironi Tiberias, Sport5 reports.
Benson has been sidelined since May with inflammation in his Achilles tendon, a nagging issue that forced him to train alone on the side of the pitch for long stretches of the close season even as the club held out hope he would be fit for the campaign opener.
According to Sport5 and separately confirmed by ONE, the Belgian-Angolan winger has now returned to full training alongside Yarin Levi and Andrea Novaković, who were sidelined by a virus, with the club even scrapping a scheduled day off to fit in an extra session before facing Tiberias.
Bachar is not expected to throw Benson straight into the starting eleven. Sport5 reports he is likely to be introduced from the bench as Haifa manage his workload with an eye on the league opener against Hapoel Ramat Gan.
The timing matters for Haifa, who go into the Tiberias match already out of contention for the Toto Cup semi-finals and chasing their first points of the group phase.
Novaković himself will sit out the Tiberias game after catching a separate virus, per Sport5, while Guy Melamed is tipped to deputise for Adam Grinberg in central midfield.
Off the pitch, the club is still working to add a goalkeeper to the roster after complications arose around a possible move involving Omer Katz, an issue Sport5 says remains unresolved.
Benson joined Haifa in February on a free transfer after his loan spell at Swansea City, arriving from Burnley with the club's staff regarding him as a potential focal point of the attack once fully fit.
