If the Gareth Bale era at Tottenham ended with his comeback tour last season, now the post-Bale era is over, too. Erik Lamela’s move to Sevilla sees the departure of the last of the “magnificent seven,” as they were inaccurately dubbed, the players bought with proceeds of Bale’s 2013 sale to Real Madrid.
Collectively, they would never escape the bizarre verdict of the former Tottenham forward Garth Crooks, who infamously declared: “Spurs have sold Elvis and bought the Beatles.” In reality, only Christian Eriksen merited anything remotely like that kind of hyperbole. The Dane’s price - £12 million – rendered him a bargain; had Tottenham cashed in on him before the final few months of his contract, when Inter Milan paid £17 million for him, then Spurs would have made many times their original investment.
More importantly, Eriksen lent class, creativity and consistency. His return of 69 goals and 89 assists in 305 games was outstanding. The Dane was the sole unqualified success from that £105 million spending spree, the lone remnant of it to prove catalytic when Mauricio Pochettino took Tottenham on their most sustained spell near the top of the table since the 1960s. That improvement came in spite of most of them, not because.
Roberto Soldado was a crushing failure, albeit one whose impotence became irrelevant when Harry Kane emerged. Paulinho’s strange and brief Barcelona career was a reminder of the quality Spurs briefly saw before Pochettino’s appointment, but rarely thereafter as he was soon exiled. Vlad Chiriches and Etienne Capoue were also gone in 2015, both also at a loss. Capoue at least showed some staying power at Watford and became a Europa League winner with Villarreal. Along with Eriksen, Nacer Chadli was alone in producing a profit; with 11 league goals in 2014/15, he was at least pivotal in Pochettino’s debut year.
Then there was Lamela, the biggest of the buys and the last of the survivors. A £30 million recruit departed as the makeweight in a deal to bring in Bryan Gil from Sevilla. Tottenham’s tribute to him included the phrase “a club man through and through.” Lamela built a bond with the supporters. “I felt the shirt the same way you did,” he wrote on Instagram. “I’m going to carry this club with me forever. The memories will stay with me forever.”
His valedictory campaign offered memories that were both indicative and deceptive. Lamela scored the goal of the Premier League season with his rabona against Arsenal; it was his goal of the year in another sense, as it was his solitary league strike. Perhaps he mastered the spectacular but not the mundane: it was not even his greatest rabona, a mantle that rested with a 2014 effort against Asteras Tripoli. But Lamela’s March rabona against Arsenal came in a game when he was sent off. A wind-up merchant’s antics backfired then; they aided Tottenham in the 6-1 win at Old Trafford when Anthony Martial was red-carded for his reaction to Lamela. There was the sense that Jose Mourinho liked having an agent provocateur. Sometimes, though, he was too distracted by the acrimony to focus on the football.
That a disproportionate number of his league goals came against elite sides spoke to his ability but there were too few of them: just 17 in eight seasons, after 15 in his final year at Roma alone. He was the Bale replacement who became both cult hero and fringe figure, overtaken by others like Dele Alli and Son Heung-min. A highlights reel packed with trickery, fine touches and terrific finishes looks impressive but there were only 95 league starts to go with those 17 goals. Ultimately, there were too few of either.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
Second ODI
England 322-7 (50 ovs)
India 236 (50 ovs)
England win by 86 runs
Next match: Tuesday, July 17, Headingley
Wayne Rooney's career
Everton (2002-2004)
- Appearances: 48
- Goals: 17
Manchester United (2004-2017)
- Appearances: 496
- Goals: 253
England (2003-)
- Appearances: 119
- Goals: 53
What are the main cyber security threats?
Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Read more about the coronavirus
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The five new places of worship
Church of South Indian Parish
St Andrew's Church Mussaffah branch
St Andrew's Church Al Ain branch
St John's Baptist Church, Ruwais
Church of the Virgin Mary and St Paul the Apostle, Ruwais
If you go:
Getting there:
Flying to Guyana requires first reaching New York with either Emirates or Etihad, then connecting with JetBlue or Caribbean Air at JFK airport. Prices start from around Dh7,000.
Getting around:
Wildlife Worldwide offers a range of Guyana itineraries, such as its small group tour, the 15-day ‘Ultimate Guyana Nature Experience’ which features Georgetown, the Iwokrama Rainforest (one of the world’s four remaining pristine tropical rainforests left in the world), the Amerindian village of Surama and the Rupununi Savannah, known for its giant anteaters and river otters; wildlifeworldwide.com
RESULT
Arsenal 1 Chelsea 2
Arsenal: Aubameyang (13')
Chelsea: Jorginho (83'), Abraham (87')
ICC men's cricketer of the year
2004 - Rahul Dravid (IND) ; 2005 - Jacques Kallis (SA) and Andrew Flintoff (ENG); 2006 - Ricky Ponting (AUS); 2007 - Ricky Ponting; 2008 - Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI); 2009 - Mitchell Johnson (AUS); 2010 - Sachin Tendulkar (IND); 2011 - Jonathan Trott (ENG); 2012 - Kumar Sangakkara (SL); 2013 - Michael Clarke (AUS); 2014 - Mitchell Johnson; 2015 - Steve Smith (AUS); 2016 - Ravichandran Ashwin (IND); 2017 - Virat Kohli (IND); 2018 - Virat Kohli; 2019 - Ben Stokes (ENG); 2021 - Shaheen Afridi
57%20Seconds
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