BERAM Kayal acclimatised to life in Glasgow long before he even landed in it.
He has come from a city known for having issues with sectarianism, and from a football culture where the major fixtures dominate the news agenda for days in advance. Now he is in another one. Life in Haifa and Israel has given
Celtic’s new midfielder a head start when it comes to knowing what to expect in the west of Scotland.
Kayal is an Arab. He knows that for many who are unfamiliar with Israeli society it is surprising, even startling, that an Arab could integrate and prosper so successfully there.
“People see too much television,” he said, alluding to years of coverage of cross-border violence between Israel and Palestine.“What the television shows about Israel is totally different to what happens. The life between the Jews and the Arabs is very good. I’m an Arab and my agent if Jewish but we’re like family. The Jews and the Arabs live together in Haifa, which is a mixed city. Maccabi Haifa has seven or eight Arab players and that’s normal. The only difference is their religion, but there’s no conflict.”
Both communities are passionate about football. The club scene in the Israeli Premier League includes several vibrant rivalries. Kayal, 22, has spent all his career so far with Maccabi Haifa. Around 550,000 people live in or adjacent to the city and Maccabi’s major fixtures come against the big Tel Aviv clubs. Kayal will draw on his experience of those occasions when the time comes for him to face Rangers.
When I play in the national team I shout at Yossi Benayoun and Tal Ben Haim
“I played in big games in Israel against Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv. If these games were on the Saturday people would start to talk about them on Monday, by Wednesday they’d be sold out and on Friday people would sleep outside the stadium to go inside. So I look forward to the Old Firm games. I look forward to every game
with Celtic.”
Comparisons with his countryman, the former Celtic player Eyal Berkovic, are inevitable. Berkovic, signed for £5.75million by John Barnes in 1999, was supremely talented but his temperament was unsuited to the Scottish game and his impact over a couple of seasons was patchy. Kayal is a midfielder, too, but whereas Berkovic was a playmaker the player Neil Lennon has signed comes with a reputation as a tenacious holding midfielder. He has 14 caps for Israel.
“Berkovic is one of the best players
in the history of Israeli football, he is a very good player and the type of player you buy tickets to see. When an Israeli player plays for a big club, like when Berkovic played for Celtic, then everyone looks forward to their games and they want him to do well as he represents Israel. In Israel when Yossi Benayoun was playing for Liverpool then people would watch to see what he was doing and Celtic aren’t a lesser
club than Liverpool, maybe even bigger.
“I spoke with Berkovic and he told me amazing things about the club. He played for a lot of clubs but he said none of them are close to Celtic. I have a lot of respect for Berkovic but we are totally different players, personalities and mentalities. I am very modest and hard-working and I will fit into the mentality of Scottish football. When I play in the national team I play with the big names like Yossi Benayoun and Tal Ben Haim and I shout at them to go here and go there.”
Lennon was a holding midfielder himself so whether Kayal is successful in the same position for Celtic will be fascinating. “When he picks you to play in his position that’s a very big compliment,” said Kayal. “He brought a lot of passion and power to the side. It’s not fair to compare me because he was a great personality and great player. He has proved himself already and I have proved nothing yet for the fans here.”
