| YOSSI BENAYOUN PROFILE
by Phil Matthews Date of Birth - 05/05/80
Nationality - Israeli
Position - Midfield
Squad Number - 11
Cost - £4m
Club Hons (Lpool) - None
Club Hons (other) - Israeli Championship 2001/02, 2002/03
Intnl Hons - Israel Caps
Other Clubs - Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Maccabi Haifa, Racing Santander, West Ham |
Yosef Shai Benayoun, known as Yossi was signed in summer 2007 from West Ham for £4m. His signing was seen as a move to fill the small yet large shoes of Luis Garcia as a creative attacking midfielder.
Yossi follows in the footsteps of fellow Israeli luminaries Ronny Rosenthal and Avi Cohen in pulling on the red shirt. Yossi is captain of the Israeli national team.
Since he was a small boy, Yossi was touted for the top. As captain of his national team, he's a household name in his native Israel, but has been so since he was a small child. At the age of 9, he signed for Hapoel Be'er Sheva and performed so impressively that he was invited to Ajax's legendary youth academy.
Yossi struggled to settle in Amsterdam though, despite being the Ajax youth team's top goalscorer and moved back to Hapoel after just one season. This did not go down well in Israel as Ajax had offered Yossi a four year contract and his decision to move back to the Israeli league was seen as spurning a golden chance to make a name for himself.
Yossi made his senior debut for Hapoel aged 17. It was not a good season for Hapoel and despite Yossi's record of 15 goals in 25 games and scoring the winner in the final match of the season against Maccabi Haifa, they were relegated on goal difference.
Haifa were clearly impressed though and signed Benayoun in a strangely structured deal which involved Haifa and Hapoel sharing the profits from any sale. Yossi carried on his rich vein of goalscoring, hitting 55 goals in his 130 games for the club, helping them to two Israeli titles and the quarter finals of the now defunct Cup Winners Cup.
In 2003, Yossi made the step up to La Liga where he played for Racing Santander for two seasons scoring 21 goals in 101 games. It was there where he came to the attention of many top European clubs, including Liverpool, then managed by Gerard Houllier.
In 2005, Yossi moved to West Ham for £2.5m, where he impressed in the Premier League despite the league's physical nature and his diminutive stature. Most notably, Benayoun performed exceptionally well in the 2006 FA Cup Final against Liverpool.
In May 2007 Yossi was offered a five year deal with West Ham, which he agreed with in principle, but delayed on signing. Liverpool took their chance and swooped to sign Benayoun on a four year contract. Notably, Yossi accepted a contract which was worth considerably less than the proposed contract that West Ham had offered him.
Yossi made his competitive Liverpool debut away against Toulose in the Champions League Qualifiers and scored his first goal in the Carling Cup match away to Reading in September 2007.
Yossi has 50 caps for the Israeli national team and has scored 12 goals.
