"They made me feel unwanted. In Romania, they roll out the red carpet for me everywhere"

Lisev Issat has opened a new chapter in his career. After a season at Maccabi Haifa, the defender moved this summer to Bristol City from the Championship in a major deal worth 2.5 million euros, and he is now preparing for the new season in England. In an interview with 103FM, he spoke about the excitement of the move, his time at Maccabi Haifa, and above all, the feelings that led him to choose to represent the Romanian national team.

"It's very exciting, I won't lie, I enjoy every training session, everything here. Everything is at the highest level, the facility is of a level I could never have imagined. They demand a lot from me and I am happy that it is happening. We have our first league game on Saturday, we are preparing, there are a lot of expectations from the staff and the players and from the club in general because it is aiming high."

The defender is already waiting to feel the atmosphere at the home stadium: "We are starting with a home game, there are 35,000 seats in the stadium. It's not a big stadium, but it feels very homey. Even when we played against Newcastle, it felt special. I can't even imagine what it will be like in a full stadium. I want to start the league on the right foot, the staff is very happy with me."

Issat told how far he has come compared to the dreams he had at the beginning of the journey: "I dreamed at first of convincing Haim Silvas to let me play for Hapoel Hadera, after that football, you don't know where it will take you." Now he is already looking at the possibility of reaching further: "You can't know where you will find yourself when you are in the Championship and every Premier League team is following you."

However, the more significant story from his perspective concerns the Israel national team. Issat said that during the time he was part of the national team, he felt he did not receive the treatment he expected.

"I was simply not satisfied with the way things were, and certain people made me feel unwanted. I don't like to mention names. People who hurt me and made me feel unwanted."

He went on to tell about the approach he received from the Romanian national team: "As soon as the Romanian national team approached me and said to me, 'We have a very special path for you, and if you take it, you will succeed.' I grew up in Haifa and had never been to Romania, I was apprehensive, but I thought that if I want to take my career forward, this is the right choice."

Issat explained that for him, personal treatment is an especially significant component: "Respect and personal treatment are very important to me before anything else, I want to trust a person with my eyes closed, and that didn't happen. They didn't give me the feeling that I belonged, that I had the keys to the starting lineup. I always work hard, I'm not saying I deserve everything. At that time when I was nobody, it was a bit harder. I know that football is competitive, but it's a feeling I can't explain."

On the other hand, in the Romanian national team, he describes a completely different experience: "I feel in Romania that they roll out the red carpet for me everywhere I go. I arrived as the youngest player in the national team, where you have very mature players."