Will Tal Ben Haim be excluded in the new Manchester City?

When deciding whether the new owners of Manchester City are fit and proper people to own a Premier League club, can I suggest the league gives a little bit of thought to the position of Tal Ben Haim.

In April 2006 West Ham United took their squad to a warm weather training camp. Well, almost all their squad.

Yossi Benayoun and Yaniv Katan went to Marbella instead. They had to, because as Israelis they are not allowed in to the United Arab Emirates. The club said the players had agreed to their exclusion and did not want to go to the UAE. But here is Katan's response when asked about his feelings on being left out:

Sometimes the best thing is not to react.

These two players are not the first to suffer this exclusion. Earlier in the same season Bolton Wanderers left their star central defender behind when they travelled to the UAE.

His name? Tal Ben Haim. Who is an Israeli international footballer and now plays for Manchester City.

So when City travel to the home of their new owners for training or a friendly match, as surely they very soon will, will they take their recently signed star defender with them? Or will he be excluded?

And as City are developed as a brand in the Middle East, which is part of the plan, will they have to sell the Israeli?

I think some sharp questions should be asked about how the new owners intend to treat their Israeli members of staff.

Comments

[Adam]

The most sensible thing would be for the Al Nahayam family to give Ben Haim a UAE passport.

Actually that's the second most sensible thing. The most sensible thing would be to allow anyone with an Israeli passport to enter the UAE.

[ally g]

Yes good stuff. Lets just gloss over the status that Arab Israelis actually hold in Israel where they are not even afforded the same rights as other Israelis.