Feilhaber's future at Derby remains unclear
As far as career moves in soccer go, leaving England for Israel usually isn't advisable. In Benny Feilhaber's case, it might just resurrect his club career.
The freshly turned 23-year-old from California has barely featured this season with Premiership basement dwellers Derby County -- the Rams staying up would make West Ham's escape last campaign look amateurish -- after spending most of his time plugging away with the reserves at Hamburg. In fact, in just over two-and-a-half seasons in Europe, he's made only a handful of appearances.
Nigel French/Empics
Benny Feilhaber, right, has had a rough season in the English Premier League.
Last week, Derby said it rejected another bid from Maccabi Tel Aviv, but, according to Feilhaber's Germany-based agent, a transfer could still materialize, what with the current window remaining open until the end of the month.
"If we talk about Israel, from my point of view, for a player like Benny, Maccabi is the most interesting club," Henner Janzen said. "With other clubs we would have definitely said no. It's still open."
Maccabi Tel Aviv, though struggling badly in the Ligat ha'Al, is easily Israel's most storied franchise, and competed in the Champions League, perhaps the top club competition around, as recently as 2004.
The worldly Feilhaber, born in Brazil, first caught the eye of Maccabi officials at the Maccabiah Games, often referred to as the Jewish Olympics, three years ago. They kept tabs and watched the midfielder again at last summer's Copa America in Venezuela, where the U.S. went winless to finish last in its four-team group.
Soon after Derby's 1-0 loss to Wigan on Jan. 12, the 5-foot-9 Feilhaber spent two days in Tel Aviv, observing the team practice and getting a feel for its style.
"He liked what he saw," Janzen said. "One comment he made was that he could definitely see himself playing there, and another thing he said was, he could see that most of the players are physically smaller than they are in Europe, and he might benefit from that.
"But once you played in the Premier League, you try to stay there or try to go to a club at the same level. He liked it very much, what he saw in Israel, but we haven't made a decision yet."
Other clubs are "interested" in Feilhaber, Janzen added, though he wouldn't disclose who they are or what countries they are from. When Derby rejected Maccabi's latest bid, it said several MLS teams were in the mix. A Derby spokesman who didn't wish to be identified said Tuesday that the team was "looking for alternatives for Benny."
Before joining Hamburg, Feilhaber himself revealed that Spain's Mallorca, Germany's Kaiserslautern and the Netherlands' Heerenveen were hovering.
The thought of an imminent departure from Derby, newly promoted, had to be the last thing on his mind when he signed for three years in a transfer worth about $2 million in August, about a month after that stunning winner against Mexico in the Gold Cup final. Derby wanted Feilhaber so badly that it successfully appealed a decision not to grant him a work permit.
Things haven't gone to plan since, even if Derby describes Feilhaber as a "neat and tidy player" who "shows plenty of comfortable touches on the ball."
He's made eight appearances -- and one start -- in 23 league games. Four came under the manager who signed him, Billy Davies. Paul Jewell replaced the axed Davies in late November and used Feilhaber in four straight matches over the festive period, though Jewell hasn't made him a substitute in the past two league games.
Ominously, Jewell has signed two midfielders this month, Robbie Savage and Laurent Robert (about as different on the field as you can get), and brought in another on loan, Hossam Ghaly, as he apparently tries to shape his team for life in the second-tier Championship next season.
Feilhaber was in a similar situation last season. Just when he was getting playing time, Hamburg replaced Thomas Doll with Huub Stevens, and it was back to the reserves.
"He's professional enough to cope with the situation, and he keeps training very hard every day," Janzen said. "You never really know what happens in football. Things might change from one day to another. He has to keep his head up and be prepared for the moment. Maybe all of a sudden the coach says, 'Maybe I need you again.' He's a positive guy, not negative at all."
Ravi Ubha is a London-based freelance journalist covering Americans abroad for ESPNsoccernet.
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