By Mark Heys
May 21 2006

Tal Ben-Haim

Born: Rishon Let'zion, Israel, 31st March 1982

International Honours: Israel Full

Position: Centre Half/Right-Back

Squad Number: 26

Former Clubs: Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Israel)

The current Israelian captain came over to England as an unknown quantity two years ago, but now the Premiership is starting to find out a bit more about the talents of the young defender.

Ben-Haim had previously spent five years in his homeland playing for Maccabi Tel-Aviv when Sam Allardyce brought him over to England for a mere £150,000.

He first came to the attention of the Wanderers manager when Premiership rivals Aston Villa failed to sign him up after a relatively successful trial.

Ben-Haim made his Wanderers debut in the opening day fixture of 2004-2005 when coming on as a late substitute for Nicky Hunt in the 4-1 win over Charlton. He coped excellently well in the ten minutes that he had to mark the Addicks new signing Dennis Rommedahl and this set the standard for a good season.

He found pre-Christmas chances very hard to come by due to the excellent form of the Bolton defence, but this was soon to be altered when the club had a festive hiccup in December.

Ben-Haim replaced the out of sorts Radhi Jaidi at centre half and struck up a solid partnership with old stager Bruno N'Gotty for the rest of the campaign.

2005-2006 was equally as successful for the young defender as he maintained maximum effort and commitment alongside the likes of N'Gotty, Jaidi and Abdoulaye Faye

The departure of N'Gotty in 2006 means that there was a bigger responsibility on the shoulders of Ben-Haim in the 2006-2007 season but it is a task that he was more than capable of facing as he was a regular either as a centre back or a full back on the left and right flanks.

He is a player who reads the game very well and enjoys his football when faced with the challenge of an opponent such as Thierry Henry and Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

Speculation continues to mount over his long term future with a number of clubs interested in his services as he comes to the end of his current contract as a Wanderer.

BOLTON RECORD: 88 appearances, 1 goals