Maccabi Petah Tikva, back in the Israeli Premier League after a season in the second tier, are shopping the free-agent market for attacking reinforcements, and Sport5 reports that Montenegrin striker Marko Rakonjac has emerged as a leading candidate to join.
The 26-year-old centre-forward is currently without a club after leaving Hapoel Jerusalem, where he arrived in January and made 14 appearances, scoring twice as the capital side secured its top-flight status through the second half of the season.
Standing 1.91 metres, Rakonjac built his reputation in Serbia with Cukaricki before Lokomotiv Moscow signed him on a four-year contract in 2022. He never established himself in Russia and instead built a career largely out on loan.
Those loan spells took in Red Star Belgrade, where he featured as the club won the domestic double, as well as Serbian side TSC and Hungary's Diosgyor, before a spell with OFI Crete in Greece preceded his move to Israel.
He has a single senior cap for Montenegro, won in 2022, to go with earlier appearances for the country's under-17, under-19 and under-21 sides.
According to Sport5, Rakonjac is not the only forward on Maccabi Petah Tikva's radar. The club is also said to be finalising a season-long loan for Yoav Koren, who already joined the squad's training camp, with an agreement reportedly in place between the two clubs.
Koren scored eight goals across all competitions last season for Hapoel Kfar Sava in the National League and would add depth to a Petah Tikva squad being rebuilt under manager Avi Luzon for the step back up to the top flight.
Nothing has been signed with Rakonjac, and Sport5's report describes him only as a candidate under consideration rather than a completed deal — a distinction worth keeping in mind as Petah Tikva continue to build their squad for the new season.
