Maccabi Haifa's plan to bring in goalkeeper Omer Nir'on as cover for next season has collapsed completely, according to a report from ONE, with Maccabi Netanya's financial demands proving too steep for a deal that had looked close to straightforward only weeks ago.
ONE reports that Netanya's opening demand ran to around NIS 1 million in loan fees with a purchase option attached, or alternatively a makeweight player valued at roughly NIS 1.5 million heading back the other way. Haifa, according to the report, were taken aback by figures of that size for a goalkeeper who barely played down the stretch last season.
The bigger sticking point was structure rather than price alone. Netanya made clear they had no interest in a loan at all — they wanted Nir'on sold outright, and preferably to a club that would make him its first-choice goalkeeper rather than a bench option, which is exactly the role Haifa had in mind for him.
That mismatch cuts to the heart of why the deal made sense for Haifa in the first place. Nir'on, 25, was being lined up as understudy to Georgiy Yermakov — except Yermakov himself is on his way out of Sammy Ofer Stadium. Walla Sport reports the Ukrainian goalkeeper is closing in on a move to Metalist Kharkiv worth in the region of €3 million, a fee the Haifa board has found hard to turn down even though it would rather have kept him.
Sharif Kiwan, Haifa's long-serving No. 1, has also been trying to leave, and the picture in goal at Sammy Ofer Stadium has shifted from one report to the next: Ynet linked him to newly promoted Hapoel Ra'anana, while Walla Sport later reported him angling for a loan at Hapoel Ramat Gan. Walla added that Haifa wanted a Nir'on signing settled before letting Kiwan go anywhere — a plan now back to square one.
None of it changes Nir'on's contractual situation at Netanya, where he still has two years to run on a deal worth around NIS 1.2 million a season. ONE notes that Netanya had, at an earlier stage, been prepared to let him leave for nothing if a buyer took on his wages — a position that hardened into the sale-only stance that ultimately killed the Haifa talks.
The goalkeeper's own year has been difficult regardless of the transfer speculation. Nir'on impressed early last season before a dip in form was followed by shoulder surgery in London, and he has spent much of his rehabilitation on the sidelines rather than in a shirt at all, whichever club it belongs to.
For now, he stays put in Netanya. Haifa, ONE reports, will have to look elsewhere for a second goalkeeper — either a younger Israeli option or a signing out of the National League — a considerably less tidy solution than the one that just fell through.
