Yossi Benayoun

Yossi Benayoun

File:Yossi Benayoun.jpg
Personal information
Full name	Yosef Shai Benayoun יוסף שי בניון
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team	West Ham United
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12:25, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Yossi Benayoun (Template:Lang-he, sometimes spelled Benayun, born Template:Lang-he on May 5, 1980) is an Israeli football player, playing as an attacking midfielder, for West Ham United of the English Premier League. He is the captain of the Israeli national football team.

Background

Benayoun was born in 1980 in in Dimona, Israel. He is considered by many to be the best Israeli footballer playing today and is the highest-paid Israeli sportsman. Benayoun plays as an attacking midfielder, occupying the space just behind the striker, and is known for being a virtuoso, capable of dazzling dribbles, perfect volleys and brilliant passes. In Israel he is nicknamed "The Kid" or "The Diamond".

Club career

Youth years

Benayoun played for the Hapoel Be'er Sheva youth team. At the age of 15 he joined the Football Academy of Ajax Amsterdam where he played until he was 17. Due to him feeling lonely and homesick, he left Ajax and returned to Israel and Hapoel Be'er Sheva. Many criticized him for letting go of a golden opportunity.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva

At the age of 17½, he was promoted to the Hapoel Be'er Sheva senior team, but could not prevent the club from being relegated to Israel's second division. In the last match of the season against Maccabi Haifa, Benayoun got a penalty kick in the 90th minute. Haifa's goalkeeper, Nir Davidovich saved the shot but Benayoun scored the rebound. He thought he had saved his team from relegation, but when he heard on the radio that their relegation rival had won their match, meaning that his team would be relegated nonetheless, his tears of joy turned into tears of grief. Benayoun made 25 appearances for Hapoel, scoring 15 goals.

Maccabi Haifa

After that season, Benayoun moved to Maccabi Haifa in a deal signed by Ya'akov Shahar (Maccabi Haifa's president) and Eli Zino (the head of Hapoel Be'er Sheva), and it was agreed that the two clubs would share the profits from selling Benayoun to a European club.

Benayoun played for Maccabi Haifa for three seasons, scoring a total of 55 league goals, including two hat-tricks. He scored some of the most beautiful goals in the Israeli Premier League. One example, against Ashdod, saw Benayoun bounce the ball on his leg to pass over the opposing defenders and goalkeeper and score a magnificent goal. He is also known for the "spoon pass", where he arches the ball over the defenders to one of his team's strikers. In 1998, under the guidance of Dusan Uhrin and Daniel Brailovsky, Benayoun and Haifa reached the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners' Cup, and he scored against Paris Saint-Germain and SV Ried.

In 1999, he confronted his manager Eli Cohen, when Benayoun allegedly refused to be substituted during a match. This incident, plus a bad month for the club, ultimately caused Cohen's resignation.

In the 2000/2001 season under the guidance of Avraham Grant, Benayoun led Haifa to a first championship after seven years and was chosen as the MVP of the season. The next season, Benayoun helped Maccabi Haifa win another championship, despite suffering from an injury in the beginning of the season. When he returned to play, he combined well with Giovanni Rosso, Raimondas Žutautas and Aiyegbeni Yakubu to win the championship.

Benayoun made 130 appearances for Maccabi, scoring 55 goals.

Racing Santander

In 2003, Benayoun moved to Racing de Santander in Spain, where he became one of the big stars of the club and one of its leading scorers during the 2004/2005 season. He made 101 appearances for Racing, scoring 21 goals.

West Ham United

After his performances for the Israeli national team and Racing Santander, his name was connected with many teams, such as FK Moscow, CSKA Moscow, Arsenal, Liverpool, West Ham United and Bolton Wanderers, where the Israeli Tal Ben Haim played until joining Chelsea in the summer of 2007. West Ham completed the signing of Benayoun in July 2005 after an offer of £2.5 million was accepted by Racing and Benayoun signed a four-year contract.

His career at West Ham took off almost immediately, albeit amidst controversy surrounding his perceived shunning of Bolton Wanderers. He made his Premiership debut for West Ham on the opening day of the 2005-06 season (13 August, 2005 against Blackburn Rovers) and he laid on passes for 2 of West Ham's goals in their 3-1 win. He went on to score his first Premiership goal for the club when he netted the closing goal in a 4-0 home victory over Aston Villa on 12 September, 2005. Under manager Alan Pardew the now 25 year old has flourished, producing skillful performances and goals on one of the worlds biggest football stages, including a notably stunning chip from the edge of the box against Fulham (Monday 23 January, 2006).

A player with exceptional flair, creativity and originality has proved many critics wrong by proving not only an invaluable goal assister in the rigours of the Premiership but also by popping up four times in his opening Premiership season. Once doubted for his outwardly meek physical appearance, Benayoun has surprised many with his body application even when faced with strong defenders as he has shown many times when out muscling defenders to score or set up chances. It is these attributes that have established his as one of the leading right sided players in the premiership. He also scored the goal that stopped West Ham's bitter rivals Spurs qualifying for the Champion's League with a last gasp goal on the last game of the season.

Benayoun played in the 125th FA Cup Final for West Ham against European Champions Liverpool. West Ham eventually lost to Liverpool after a penalty shoot out. The result was 3-3 after 120 minutes. Benayoun was seen in tears at the final whistle.

Benayoun agreed a new five-year deal with West Ham in May 2007 but had not signed it when Liverpool confirmed in June 2007 that they had made an approach for him. West Ham rejected a £3 million bid from Liverpool but Liverpool made an increased offer of £4.5 million.On 10 July, Israeli media reported that Benayoun manager, Ronen Katsav, had agreed a deal with Liverpool, taking lower pay than the £50,000 a week offered by West Ham in May. The BBC reported that West Ham had agreed a fee of £4.5 million with Liverpool and that the transfer is expected to be finalised on 11 July 2007.

International Career

Benayoun was a member of the Israel U team that came third in the 1996 UEFA European Under-16 Championship.

He made his senior debut for Israel against Portugal in November 1998.

During the World Cup 2006 qualifiers, Benayoun became the leading player of the Israeli national team after equalizing against Cyprus at home (in a game that ended 2-1 to Israel) and scoring twice against Switzerland. In the away game in Cyprus, Benayoun assisted the winning goal after Nir Davidovich saved a crucial penalty.

External links

• Yossi Benayoun at Soccerbase
• Yossi Benayoun at ElelIsrael.com
• "Benayoun feeling London pride", an interview with Yossi Benayoun, UEFA.com, 21 October 2005. Retrieved 6 July 2007.