Maccabi Tel Aviv have identified an unlikely reinforcement for their backline: Nikola Maraš, a 30-year-old Serbian centre-back who became a free agent last week in one of the stranger contract terminations European football has seen this summer.
ONE reports that the Yellow-and-Blues have already tabled an offer to Maraš, and that the defender has started making inquiries about relocating to Israel, including checking out housing options in Tel Aviv, as he weighs the move.
Maraš was let go by Deportivo Alavés despite a contract that was supposed to run until the summer of 2027. Serbian outlets, including B92, reported that the Spanish club opened disciplinary proceedings against him after training-load data — drawn from GPS and performance-tracking platforms used at the club — indicated he was deliberately working below full intensity in sessions. He was given a chance to explain himself but the club was not persuaded, and terminated his deal outright, a highly unusual step in professional football that drew attention across the Spanish and Serbian press.
For Maccabi Tel Aviv, his availability as a free agent makes him an appealing, low-cost option to strengthen the defence. But ONE's report notes the move is not a formality: it hinges on how the club resolves its broader foreign-player situation, with the Yellow-and-Blues still working out solutions for other overseas players on the roster before space and budget can be freed up for a new arrival.
Maraš stands 1.89 metres and has spent his career mainly as a central defender, with stints in Serbia, Portugal and Spain. He came through Rad Belgrade, where he was eventually made captain, before a 2017 move to Portuguese side Chaves. He joined Alavés on loan in August 2022, and after helping the club win promotion to La Liga that season signed a permanent four-year contract in mid-2023.
His body of work reads as a solid, if unspectacular, journeyman's résumé: over 100 appearances in Serbia's SuperLiga, 57 in Portugal's Primeira Liga, and a mix of Segunda División and La Liga football in Spain, including 16 top-flight appearances for Alavés.
Should the transfer go through, Maraš would arrive with Champions League and top-division European experience — exactly the profile Maccabi Tel Aviv have targeted as they try to bolster a defence facing a heavy fixture load between league and continental commitments this season.
For now, though, it remains a live candidacy rather than a done deal — a player already sold on relocating, a club that has made an offer, and a roster puzzle in Tel Aviv still waiting to be solved.
