“A new home. A new journey. A new dream,” exclaimed Israeli-Arab star Anan Khalaili after signing for Crystal Palace last week.
But the arrival in the Premier League of the blue-and-white international on a five-year contract with the London club came only after the 21-year-old had overcome significant obstacles in his short career.
“It was never the yellow brick road for Anan,” the winger’s agent Boaz Goren tells the JC.
The only Israeli player in the Premier League this season, Khalaili grew up in a modest household in Haifa, an Arab child in the predominantly Jewish city.
His father, Majdi, was a goalkeeper in Israel’s lower leagues.
Playing as a winger and striker with Maccabi Haifa’s prestigious youth academy as a youngster, he was unable to establish himself. Aged 15, he chose to drop down to the lower youth divisions to get a better chance to play.
Scoring 25 goals in one season he was called back to Maccabi, but still struggled to secure a place.
Anan Khalaili on his Crystal Palace debut[Missing Credit]
The crucial breakthrough came almost by accident, when he impressed as a backup for the national team at the Under-20s 2023 World Cup in Argentina.
“He was one of the last players to be added to the team,” recalls Ofir Haim, who coached Israel at the tournament.
“I immediately noticed that he was a great athlete, but I wasn’t sure about his technical skills or decision-making. He was very raw because he hadn’t had many opportunities to play in the youth league.
“But I’m so happy I eventually decided to add him, because at the World Cup the guy just exploded onto the scene.”
Khalaili was initially a substitute, but every time Haim sent him onto the pitch, he delivered.
“It didn’t matter how few minutes he played. He had no ego whatsoever. And he was never fazed. It didn’t matter whether we were playing Brazil, South Korea or Uzbekistan – he scored every time and really changed the dynamic of the games with his endless energy.
“Suddenly, out of nowhere, we had a star on our hands.”
Israel finished third at the tournament, in one of the nation’s greatest-ever football achievements.
Israeli star singer-songwriter Hanan Ben Ari even wrote a hit song inspired by one of Khalaili’s goals against Brazil.
Goren says: “From being a complete unknown who could hardly get playing time at his own club, he suddenly became a household name in Israel.
“But again, nothing fazed him. It just made him work even harder and become more focused on achieving his goals.”
Khalaili flourished after becoming a senior player. Aged 18, he began starting matches for Maccabi Haifa. In his debut season, he scored nine goals and provided six assists.
A year later, in 2024, he was sold to Belgian top league club Union Saint-Gilloise for £6.5 million, the highest fee ever paid for a player from the Israeli Premier League.
Khalaili not only had to adjust to a new country, culture, language, climate and style of football, but also to living away from his parents for the first time in his life.
On the pitch came another major change, as he was played not as a striker or winger as before but now mostly as right-back.
Anan Khalaili with the Belgian cup he won playing for Union Saint-Gilloise[Missing Credit]
He met the challenge and thrived with distinction, helped to lead the modest Brussels club to its first championship in 90 years.
In his second year he proved he was no one-season wonder, establishing himself as a Champions League player, scoring three goals from a defensive position against teams including Marseilles and Atalanta.
His talent was recognised more widely as he was named in Uefa’s Starting XI of the Week and ESPN’s Team of the Champions League.
Domestically, he helped lead his team to win the Belgian Cup.
Israeli national team manager Ran Ben Shimon tells the JC: “It became obvious quite quickly that he might be too good for the Belgian league.
“Against all odds, Anan suddenly became one of the most sought-after young talents in Europe.”
Italian champions Inter Milan emerged as the most serious suitor. A month ago, everything was agreed. Inter would pay Saint-Gilloise £21million and sign Khalaili to a five-year contract worth around £1.7m per season.
But just a day after Anan was flown on a private jet from Brussels to Milan for his medical it seemed his dream was shattered.
The Italian club said he had failed the medical due to an unspecified “heart condition”. Goren was with Khalaili throughout this testing time. The agent tells the JC: “He passed all the physical tests in Belgium and Israel, and later also in England. But the Italian tests are conducted by the Italian Olympic Committee, rather than the football authorities.
“We really wanted to be in Italy. Anan dreamed of becoming an Inter player because it’s one of the most prestigious clubs in the world, and they really wanted him and were willing to pay handsomely.
“So it was a huge disappointment. I was with Anan during those days in Milan, and if you had seen him from close range, you wouldn’t have noticed that anything had happened. This kid is so mentally tough, so resilient.
“It’s just like on the football pitch. In the dying moments of a game, the bigger the pressure, the bigger he becomes.”
Supporters in Israel who had been so overjoyed over the signing by Inter Milan were virtually in mourning over the shattered dream for the 16-cap international. But Khalaili kept silent and returned to training while his agent went back to work. Three weeks later, he had found Khalaili a new destination, in south London.
“I have been in touch with Premier League teams about Anan for the last two years,” Goren says. “A lot of clubs know him and a lot of clubs showed interest. In the end, it was Crystal Palace who were the most serious, and they offered his Belgian club exactly what Inter had offered.”
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