Ben Sahar

Four days later, Sahar came on as a substitute in the 60th minute of Chelsea's 1–1 draw with Wycombe Wanderers in the League Cup.

Ben Sahar (בן שׂהר, changed the Hebrew spelling of his surname from סהר; born 10 August 1989) is an Israeli professional footballer who plays as a striker for Maccabi Petah Tikva.

He has also played for the Israel national team.

Sahar was born in Holon, Israel, to a Jewish family.

His father is Israeli-born and of Tunisian Jewish descent, who works as an electrician, and his mother teaches sports.

He grew up in the city of Modi'in, Israel.

Before his transfer to Chelsea F.C., he acquired a Polish passport as well, on account of his Israeli-born mother who is of Ashkenazi Polish-Jewish and Latvian Jewish descent, that made him eligible to play as a non-foreigner in EU leagues including the UK.

As an Israeli citizen, Sahar was due to return to Israel for a three-year spell of military service in the IDF.

However, Israeli lawmakers were working on a legislation (nicknamed "The Ben Sahar Law") that would have allowed Sahar to complete a national service (Sherut Leumi) term in England instead.

The law did not pass and as a result, Sahar was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces.

Under the terms of his military service, he had to visit his military base every time he was on vacation in Israel.

Sahar began playing football in his hometown of Modi'in, Israel.

There, he was enrolled in the Sportop Football Academy, before joining the youth ranks of Hapoel Tel Aviv.

At 16, Sahar was the equivalent of a second-year apprentice at Chelsea; he first caught the eye of Chelsea staff in an Under-16 fixture against Ireland in 2004.

While he was promoted to the first team by manager Itzhak Shum, he did not feature in any matches, since his transfer was completed before the start of the 2006–07 season.

Sahar signed for Chelsea of the English Premier League in May 2006 from Hapoel Tel Aviv for £320,000, having previously spent a two-month period on trial at Stamford Bridge.

Sahar was called up to the Chelsea first team to play Macclesfield Town in the FA Cup on 6 January 2007, and made his debut coming on as a substitute for Salomon Kalou in the 76th minute.

He made his Premiership debut on 13 January 2007, coming off the bench to replace Arjen Robben in the 82nd minute of the match against Wigan Athletic.

He later made two additional Premier League substitute appearances for the Blues that season, against Manchester United and Everton.

Sahar joined then Championship side Queens Park Rangers, on loan, for the beginning of the 2007–08 season, on 26 July 2007, for an initial three-month period.

He followed this up with two goals in a pre-season friendly against Premier League side Fulham, earning Queens Park Rangers a 2–1 win.

Following this, his loan-deal was then extended to 2 January 2008.

Sahar suffered numerous injuries during this period and did not manage to score during his nine league appearances.

After Sahar returned from an injury-plagued spell at QPR, Sheffield Wednesday completed the signing of Sahar on an initial one-month loan from Chelsea on 21 February 2008.

This was extended until 19 April, and again until the end of the season on 4 May 2008.

Sahar scored his first goal for Sheffield Wednesday against Crystal Palace on 22 March 2008.

He followed this up with further strikes against Scunthorpe United and Norwich City.

The latter goal was important as it ensured Sheffield Wednesday's survival in the Championship.

Sahar finished with three goals from 12 appearances for Sheffield Wednesday in his second loan spell in the Championship.

On 12 June 2008, it was reported that Sahar was in the Netherlands to discuss another season-long loan with Dutch club NEC Nijmegen.

However, according to NEC officials a deal could not be signed with Sahar due to financial issues.

Instead he agreed to a six-month loan deal with FA Cup winners Portsmouth, and on 1 July he was officially unveiled as a Portsmouth player.

Sahar joined Premier League side Portsmouth on a six-month loan deal on 1 July 2008, and was given the number 26 shirt.

He featured regularly in pre-season for Portsmouth, making seven appearances and scoring against Nigerian Premier League champions Kano Pillars, Conference South side Havant & Waterlooville, and Southern Football League Division One South & West side Gosport Borough.

However, Sahar was forced to endure yet another unsuccessful loan spell.

Despite being involved in many of Portsmouth's pre-season matches, Sahar did not play once for Portsmouth; he was an unused substitute in three of their matches.

"If I had played a few games and they said I wasn't good enough, then fine. But the fact is that I haven't been given that chance to shine," Sahar said of his disappointment at not being given one opportunity to prove himself.

Sahar joined Eredivisie side De Graafschap on loan on 2 January 2009.

He played for De Graafschap until the end of the season.

He played his first match for De Graafschap in a friendly against Turkish club Sivasspor.