A mainstay on the Columbus Crew SC roster over the past four years is moving on to a new club.
Forward Aaron Schoenfeld, who had been with the MLS club since the 2012 season, completed a transfer to Maccabi Netanya of the Israeli Premier League on Monday. Schoenfeld had been linked with the team for the past few weeks following a successful trial. He had been out of contract after his deal with Crew SC expired after the 2015 season.
Former Columbus Crew SC midfielder Aaron Schoenfeld has finally completed his move to Maccabi Netanya of Israel's Premier League #CrewSC
— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) January 18, 2016
Aaron Schoenfeld Completes Move to Maccabi Netanya in Israeli League
The 25-year-old made 51 appearances for Columbus after being acquired from the Montreal Impact who took him in the 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft. During his time with Crew SC, he was also loaned out to to the Dayton Dutch Lions, playing in 18 games for the now defunct USL club. He scored a total of 17 goals, including 12 in Dayton which was a club record for a single season.
In 2015, Schoenfeld’s playing time was limited in Columbus due in large part to the breakout season of teammate Kei Kamara. The Knoxville, TN native appeared in just 17 games, made a single start and logged a total of 214 minutes on the pitch. But he incidentally scored the final goal of the club’s 2015 regular season in a 5-0 rout of DC United on October 25th.
There are reports that Schoenfeld has been granted temporary residency status by Israel’s Ministry of Interior four days ago. Israeli Premier League teams are only allowed five foreign players per team and Maccabi Netanya already has their full allotment. There’s also talk that the club may be able to help Schoenfeld obtain an Israeli passport which would make him eligible for a call-up to their national team in the future.
Netanya are currently at the bottom of the table in the 14-team league and have undergone a bit of upheaval this season. The club sacked manager Shlomi Dora on November 2nd and replaced him with Reuven Atar, who was himself let go over the weekend after a disappointing loss in the domestic cup competition. Eli Cohen has reportedly been named the new manager.
Schoenfeld is part of an influx of five new recent signings aimed at improving the club’s fortunes on the field during the latter half of the 2015-16 season.
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