Fulham’s Manor Solomon in action against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Photo: AReuters/Peter Cziborra

The chairman of the Israeli soccer team Maccabi Petah Tikva has urged Israeli soccer star Manor Solomon, who began his career with the club, to sign with English Premier League giants Arsenal after his temporary contact with west London club Fulham ends this summer.

Speaking to Israeli outlet One Sport, Maccabi Petah Tikva Chairman Avi Luzon, who has helmed the team for 33 years, said about the 23-year-old Israeli athlete: “In my opinion? [He should go] to Arsenal. I think he’s ready to play there.”

Luzon referred to Solomon as “Manor Star” in the interview, a nod to his impressive performance  in the English Premier League this season, with a tally of four goals in nine league appearances and one in the FA Cup competition. “Fulham bet wrongly that they took him on loan for free and didn’t buy him and it’s possible they’ll lose,” he said. “After all, there was an agreement to buy him for 7.5 million euros even before and they ended up taking him on loan for free. So now, they won’t get him for 7.5 million euros and if they want to buy him they will have to pay more.”

Solomon began playing for Maccabi Petah Tikva before signing with the Ukrainian soccer team Shakhtar Donetsk at the age of 19. He lived in Kyiv and played for Shakhtar for three years before joining Fulham on loan in July 2022 on a one-year deal made possible because of a FIFA rule that allows Ukraine-based foreign players to temporarily suspend their contracts due to the Russia’s invasion of its southern neighbor.

Though he missed the first few months of the season with Fulham due to a knee injury and subsequent surgery, Solomon has impressed enormously with his performances. He was nominated for FIFA’s Premier League Player of the Month award for February and was also a contender for the Premier League’s Budweiser Goal of the Month award for the same month. His temporary contract with Fulham ends in July and several Premier League teams have expressed interest in signing Solomon once his time with Fulham is up.

Luzon thinks Shatkhar will cash in on Solomon and transfer him over to another team when the window of opportunity opens in the summer. “They do have an interest in selling him, in order to get money,” Luzon told One.

“In my estimation, without having spoken to any of the parties, he will be sold for an amount between 10 and 20 million euros to a team that will give Manor the opportunity to continue developing also a good contract,” he added. “He should receive a contract for five seasons and secure his future.”

When asked if there were other offers to seize Solomon before he decided to join Fulham temporarily, Luzon revealed that he personally approached the athlete with an offer from France — but Solomon was insistent that he wanted to play in the Premier League.

“I personally brought him an offer from Nice who then agreed to buy him for 10 million euros and give him a contract of 2 million euros per season for five seasons,” Lizon told One. “They agreed to send a plane to take him to see the French Riviera. He told them: ‘I know the Riviera and it is beautiful, but I want to play in the Premier League.'”

Luzon would receive roughly a 15 percent cut from a sale concerning Solomon, One explained. He told the Israeli publication that he is confident teams around the world would pay good money to have Solomon play for them.

“He will find many teams that will pay him well,” he said. “Even if now he didn’t play for Fulham and returns to Shakhtar and doesn’t play there either, at the end of the contract half of the leading teams in world football, they would take him.”