Eyal Berkovic attacks Hapoel Be'er Sheva: "A big failure of the club"
Eyal Berkovic does not spare the Israeli club and warns of a collapse on the European stage, following what he defines as a serious management failure, lack of professional planning, and even stinginess.
Israeli football continues to find itself dealing with significant gaps on the European stage, and this time the focus is on Hapoel Be'er Sheva and its preparation for the European qualifiers. Eyal Berkovic, one of the greatest footballers in the country's history and currently one of the leading commentators and media figures in Israel, criticizes the management of clubs in Israel. In his opinion, the way the Israeli representative in Europe approaches the decisive meetings signals a management failure.
Berkovic addresses Hapoel Be'er Sheva's chances of passing its European rival, Red Star Belgrade, and clarifies how the balance of power today does not look in favor of Be'er Sheva. His words come against the backdrop of a significant weakening of the squad and a lack of worthy alternatives, which puts the club in a position of clear inferiority even before the opening whistle:
"It will be a miracle if Hapoel Be'er Sheva advances a stage. In my opinion, the Star will pass a round... Kangwa was missing and he will be missing, and they don't have the creativity that Kangwa has suddenly, and they don't have Dan Biton right now. Hapoel Be'er Sheva should have prepared for Kangwa's departure."
The sale of the team's star, Kings Kangwa, to the Greek Panathinaikos, is very frustrating for Berkovic, who sees this as an example of a lack of long-term planning. Berkovic says that a club that wants to succeed on the European stage must act out of a vision built months in advance, and not find itself surprised that a key player leaves:
"A failure... a big failure! How does Hapoel Be'er Sheva reach a situation where it is in the Champions League qualifiers, and their lineup, if you take out Ventura and Zlatanovic, is a Maccabi Netanya lineup, more or less."
During the 'The Wizard and His Sons' podcast of the Podium Podcast, the question arises regarding the financial investment of the owner Alona Barkat and the gaps compared to other teams in the league, such as Hapoel Tel Aviv, which landed acquisitions in the amount of 2.2 million euros. Berkovic clarifies that the question is not because of the owner's stinginess, but from a general perception of foreign players. When a player like Kangwa receives an offer that doubles and even triples his salary in Greece, the Israeli league finds it difficult to compete financially.
However, Berkovic argues that the deeper problem is the ability to sell players a sporting vision. If Israeli clubs promised and showed a constant presence in the group stage of the Champions League or the Europa League year after year, it would be possible to convince leading players to stay for a lower salary with the understanding that exposure in Europe would launch them straight to the top leagues:
"If we showed that the teams here want to qualify for the Champions League and year after year they qualify, you could sell Kangwa less money, but show how from us you will reach the Champions League and reach the Spanish league and not Panathinaikos."
