Bayern Munich and Daniel Peretz both made moves to make the transfer happen

Bayern Munich had been looking for another goalkeeper because the position was thin after the sale of Yann Sommer to Inter Milan and the loan assignments of Alexander Nübel and Johannes Schenk. The Bavarians finally found one in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Daniel Peretz. Bayern were so eager to get him to Munich that they sent over a private jet, a concept that is alien in Israeli football (via The Athletic):

Bayern couldn’t wait to get him to Munich. They sent a private jet — something unheard-of in Israeli football — to fly him, his family and his girlfriend, Noa Kirel, who represented Israel in May’s Eurovision contest, finishing third, to the Bavarian capital in the small hours of Friday morning.

Negotiations had been a little fraught between the clubs in the days before, with much haggling over the fee. Peretz had been so desperate to make it happen he had offered to give up a part of his rather modest, incentive-based salary, starting at €1.5million per year, to find an agreement. In the end, Bayern and Maccabi settled on €5m.

Photo by Stefan Matzke - sampics/Getty Images

Peretz is described as “young, tall, agile, confident on the ball and great at stopping penalties”. Remember when Germany drew with Israel in the U21 Euros? Well, that was Peretz in goal for Israel and he was immense that game. As planned, Peretz will start off as third-choice behind currently injured captain Manuel Neuer and Sven Ulreich. Ulreich’s agent, Jurgen Schwab, a specialist in goalkeepers, was involved in this transfer.

A cool fact about Peretz is that he could be the first foreign player to be in goal for Bayern since Jean-Marie Pfaff. The Belgian played for the Rekordmeister from 1982 to 1988. Another tidbit about Peretz is that, after consultation from his rabbi, he will ask for the #18 shirt which is a spiritual number in Judaism (representing life).