A move that would have set a new benchmark for Israeli soccer collapsed this week after Anan Khalaili, the 21-year-old Israel international, failed to clear the mandatory Italian medical fitness screening required to complete his transfer to Serie A champions Inter Milan.
Khalaili, an Arab-Israeli player born in Haifa to a family originally from the village of Sakhnin, had appeared on the verge of completing the most expensive transfer ever agreed for an Israeli footballer. Inter had reached an agreement with Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise worth twenty five million euros plus performance-based add-ons, with the total package reportedly capable of reaching close to thirty million euros. The move was set to install Khalaili as the long-term successor to Denzel Dumfries at right wing-back, following the Dutch international's departure for Real Madrid.
Khalaili traveled to Milan expecting to finalize the paperwork within days and sign a five-year contract. Instead, doctors at the Institute of Sports Medicine, which conducts fitness screening on behalf of Italy's National Olympic Committee, known as CONI, flagged irregularities during his cardiopulmonary evaluation and ordered additional testing, including an echocardiogram and a specialist cardiology review, before issuing a final verdict.
Italian law requires every professional athlete competing in the country to obtain a sporting fitness certificate from CONI, a process that operates entirely independently of the signing club and cannot be waived or appealed by either side. Inter president Giuseppe Marotta confirmed at a press conference Monday that Khalaili had not passed the required medical, calling it a matter of force majeure outside the club's control. Marotta said Italian privacy law prevented him from disclosing further medical detail, and that Inter would now have to explore alternative options at the position, with Strasbourg's Guéla Doué among the names reportedly under consideration, at a price close to forty million euros.
The collapse is a significant blow at home. Khalaili's first professional club, Maccabi Haifa, retained a fifteen percent sell-on clause from his 2024 move to Union Saint-Gilloise, a stake expected to be worth roughly three and a half million euros had the Inter transfer gone through. That windfall is now on hold, along with what would have been a milestone moment for Israeli representation on one of European soccer's most prominent stages.
Khalaili, who has earned sixteen caps for the Israel national team and helped Union Saint-Gilloise win the Belgian league title in 2025 and the Belgian Cup this past season, is expected to return to Belgium to undergo further medical review with his current club's staff. Inter has not ruled out revisiting the deal if Khalaili is later cleared, though the club has indicated it will now move to pursue alternatives.
