The boys will not play before us: what happened to the Maccabi Haifa youth revolution?
After the youngsters were a bright spot in a black season, Maccabi Haifa talked about a homegrown infrastructure. In practice, it quickly became clear that most of them are not expected to integrate into the lineup. "Bread and Butter", Walla's season opening project, about the decisions of Lior Refaelov and Barak Bakhar and with a message from the club: "You don't win a championship with 9 youth players".
The youth revolution, the headlines shouted towards the end of last season regarding Maccabi Haifa. The fact that coach Barak Bakhar gave credit and minutes to many players from the youth team, such as Navot Ratner, Yinon Feingzicht, Noam Steifman, Elad Amir, Adam Grinberg, Niv Gabay and others, led to the fact that the Greens found a bright spot in a particularly black season.
The headlines praised the young players, and especially the fans who found someone to identify with, brought expectations that the upcoming season of the Greens would be marked by those young players, and the next generation of the Greens would become the generation of the present.
Even with the construction of the current team, the feeling strengthened, when players like Grinberg received credit before senior strikers like Guy Melamed, Noam Steifman took a permanent place in the lineup, and it was clear to everyone that Ratner would be a significant factor. In the training camp, Itay Ehud and Amit Arzi, who returned from loan, Gabay and others also played, and it seemed that the Greens were really on the way to a season in which the homegrown youngsters would play first fiddle.
About a month and a half after the training camp and a moment before the start of the league, it seems that the picture has turned, and those who expected that in the lineup of the Greens, or at least in the short rotation, there would be an unprecedented number of young players from home, understand that things are different. So what happened along the way? Who are still supposed to be a significant factor and what will happen to those who are coming out of loan? All the answers in the following article.
"The Returnees"
Even before the massive rise of players from the youth team last season, Maccabi Haifa marked at the beginning of the 2025/26 season several young players who went out on loan. Among others, it was possible to see Arzi, Ehud and Tomer Lens, who were loaned to Hapoel Kfar Saba from the National League, Yarin Levi, of course, who was on loan at Beitar Jerusalem, Iyad Khalaili and Liam Hermesh, who went out for a season of gaining experience at the Moldovan Sheriff Tiraspol.
While Hermesh has already been released from the team, in Haifa they decided to build on Yarin Levi in the center of the midfield, while the professional staff believes that despite the tension with the fans, Levi will be one of the most significant players in the team this season. Just the night before last, Levi signed an upgraded contract and is expected to remain in the green uniform throughout the upcoming season.
If you want to understand how much Maccabi Haifa is planning on Levi, you can see it in the last week, when both the professional director Lior Refaelov and the coach Barak Bakhar spoke personally with the national team midfielder and tried to instill confidence in him.
Also Khalaili, despite many offers for a loan, is supposed to be a serious factor in the rotation of Bakhar and Refaelov. The player, as they feel in Haifa, despite an average season in Reineh, strengthened himself in quite a few parameters and will receive credit during the season.
Regarding the other three, it seems that Lens, who until two seasons ago was supposed to be the "next defender" of the Greens, has faded significantly in his status. Ehud is expected to leave on loan to Hapoel Petah Tikva, while Arzi "lit up" the staff at the training camp and was supposed to be a very significant player in the rotation and even get a chance in the lineup in the preparation games to test the possibility for the rest of the season, but he was injured and will return to full activity in a few weeks, when he is supposed to gradually enter the rotation.
Youth is not adults
Unlike those who went out on loans and went through the known path, last season there were quite a few players, as mentioned, who made the direct jump from the youth to the adults. Daniel Darzi was the first player to be marked as one who would rise to the adults and signed a new contract in order to receive the credit, but very quickly it was decided that Darzi was not yet ripe and he was loaned this season to Hapoel Kfar Saba.
The second, Feingzicht, was supposed to be the most significant player this season among the young ones and serve as the senior left back, certainly until December, when Pierre Cornud is expected to return to activity, but in the final round Feingzicht was injured and is expected to miss most of the current season. The same goes for Elad Amir, who is highly valued by the professional staff, but his injury will also sideline him for most of the season and the Greens are already building a season without him.
While Niv Gabay has already gone out on loan to Kiryat Shmona, and in Haifa they are convinced that Shay Barda will carry out a process with him that will bring him back to the team next season in a place and with much better ability, Lian Lusky will play in the youth team.
Two who are expected to be significant this season are Steifman, who was marked as a lineup defender, but ups and downs since the beginning of the season have led to the club not ruling out keeping Pedrao, which will immediately affect Steifman and Adam Grinberg. The striker saw himself as the first striker in the first two games of the Toto Cup, but in Haifa they took a step back and Grinberg will not be used as the first striker, although he is supposed to receive quite a few minutes this season.
"Adam is a wonderful striker and it's not for nothing that Lior Refaelov said at the press conference that he will be the leading striker of Israeli football in the coming years," determines a source in the club. "But you can't put all the responsibility on his shoulders. It will be right to integrate him this season, to give him quite a bit of credit but to build him correctly."
The third player marked last season is Navot Ratner, and it seems that the story around him is the most significant. Ratner, who was privileged to hear Bakhar call him "the owner of the house", has dropped significantly in his status.
In the four opening games of the season, Ratner played in only one game, and in the last week rumors even began about his dissatisfaction with his new status. Yesterday Bakhar took the player for a conversation and strengthened him, but Ratner himself will have to get used to the fact that at least at the beginning of the season players such as Eitan Azulay, Levi, Ali Muhammad and Cedric Don have priority over him, and he will have to pave his way into the lineup.
"In the end, when there are so many young players, you need to build them," continued a source in the club. "Young players have quite a few ups and downs and these are things that need to be taken into account."
"In the end, the fans, the club and everyone want a championship, and you can't win a championship with 9 youth players in the lineup," determined another source in the team. "There is no doubt that players like Adam Grinberg, like Steifman, like Ratner and others will be a factor and will receive minutes, but no one can guarantee that they will be lineup players throughout the season. This is part of the construction. We have an excellent future generation and there is no need to make noise about everything, there are quite a few players here who this year will take the first steps on the way to leading Maccabi Haifa in the coming years."
