A sleepless night, concessions and the green light from Goldhar: behind the scenes of Revivo's move to Elche
The defender was not prepared to stay at Maccabi Tel Aviv, and his circle said: "He had exhausted his time and wanted to advance to the Spanish league." After a night of talks, Goldhar gave the green light at 5:00 AM. The Yellows will receive 2.5 million euros and 20 percent of a future sale. James Tavernier may join as early as today.
"Roy Revivo did not want to stay at Maccabi Tel Aviv for one more minute. He had exhausted his time and wanted to advance to the Spanish league, and therefore did everything to make this move happen. He understood that if the move to Elche did not materialize, he would be depressed if he stayed at Kiryat Shalom," clarified the circle of the Israel national team defender, who signed a four-year contract with the Spanish team last night.
They also explained why Revivo and his father Haim went to battle against the Maccabi Tel Aviv management, which claimed throughout the process that no offer had arrived from the Spanish club, but eventually relented and allowed the deal to be completed. Revivo had a sleepless night, which began with 90 minutes against Maccabi Haifa and continued with talks between his agent, Pini Zahavi, and owner Mitch Goldhar until the small hours. Eventually, the offer submitted by the Serbian super-agent to CEO Jack Angelides a month ago was accepted: 2.5 million euros for the transfer and 20 percent of a future sale.
Just like in the case of Sayed Abu Farchi, who moved to the Colorado Rapids and had to give up about half a million dollars from his sale bonus, Revivo also gave up the 15 percent he was entitled to according to his contract — 375 thousand euros — to allow the deal to be completed. The defender preferred to give up the bonus with the goal of advancing to the Spanish league. Only around 5:00 AM did Goldhar give the green light to Zahavi. Revivo arrived at Ben Gurion Airport at 7:00 and took off for Spain, where he underwent medical examinations and signed a four-year contract. He will earn 450 thousand euros per season, three times his salary at Kiryat Shalom.
Elche has collected one point out of nine possible and is expected to fight against relegation. Its upcoming games will be against Real Sociedad, Athletic Bilbao, and in about two weeks against Real Madrid. In October, it will meet Celta Vigo, the ex-team of his father Haim, who played for them about 30 years ago.
"Revivo left us with the biggest hole in the team, with all due respect to all the players who are here or will arrive," said players at Maccabi Tel Aviv. "Together with Dor Peretz, he is the most important player in the team. This is a huge loss for us." Maccabi has sold Revivo and Abu Farchi so far this summer and received about eight million euros for them. On the other hand, it spent 2.45 million euros on Gabi Kanichowsky, Aster Socler, and Dan Glazer.
Maccabi Tel Aviv marked Yannick Lindal as a possible replacement for Revivo, but he has already signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv. In the existing squad, the Yellows can use Noam Ben Harush or Sagiv Jehezkel as left backs. The one who may join as early as today is James Tavernier, the 35-year-old English right back, who is known, among other things, for his tremendous free kicks. He is expected to undergo medical examinations in Israel and arrive on a free transfer. After 11 years at Ibrox, Rangers decided to end the engagement with the captain. It is possible that the fact that he played for three years alongside Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Kenny Miller at Rangers led him to choose the Israeli club.
Gabi Kanichowsky has already landed in the country and will join the team, which purchased him for 1.2 million euros. Maccabi is still stuck with two foreign players and will have to release at least one of them to register Tavernier. Ion Nicolaescu is not interested in leaving Kiryat Shalom. At Maccabi, they hope that Kervin Andrade will be loaned out soon. In Poland, it was reported that Maccabi is also interested in Camilo Mena, the 23-year-old Colombian midfielder of Lechia Gdansk, but the Poles are demanding eight million euros — an amount that seems unrealistic. In any case, if Maccabi adds two more foreign players by the closing of the transfer window on September 16, it will have to freeze Nicolaescu.
