The Juventus No 19 jersey remains unassigned. On Sunday’s opening match day of the Serie A season, the name of Juve’s most experienced player was nowhere near the team-sheet.
His “dignity”, according to the Italian Footballers Association, the body that protects players’ rights, has “been stamped all over” by the club he has represented more than 500 times.
At this stage of every summer, with the close of the transfer window imminent and the competitive season under way, there are hundreds of professional footballers in uncomfortable limbo, told clearly they are not to the taste of the head coach, or too heavy a weight on the salary budget, or, because of a dwindling time left on their contracts, deemed at peak resale value and so being pressured to leave.
The case rocking Juventus has some of those elements. But it’s a headline-grabber because the footballer being marginalised, his “dignity” offended, is the captain of Italy’s national team. He’s the hero of the Azzurri triumph at the last European championship. He is Leo Bonucci.
Eleven weeks ago, when Juventus closed out a difficult 2022/23 with a 1-0 win at Udinese, Bonucci was there, wearing the captain’s armband.
Fast forward to the weekend and Juventus went back to Udinese and won 3-0 with Bonucci entirely absent, despite being under contract – and apparently fit – until the end of next June.
His advisers were meanwhile in serious talks with Lazio, one of the suitors for the 36-year-old defender who, along with an interested Union Berlin can offer Bonucci Champions League football this season were they to lure him and meet his wage expectations before the transfer window closes in 10 days time.
Moving from Juventus will still feel like a wrench and his pointed rejection by the club where Bonucci was a pillar through eight of Juve’s nine successive Serie A titles between 2012 and 2020 is a brutal way to end the relationship.
But Bonucci is 36 and the sort of warrior centre-back whose tough duelling treads a thin line between what’s legitimate and what is punished by a foul. In the age of VAR and magnified scrutiny of contentious tackles, that puts him in a category of defender who have become less fashionable.
This has been a chastening summer for a few. Just as Italy’s new head coach, Luciano Spalletti, faces uncertainties about Bonucci’s status as his captain and defensive leader, his England counterpart Gareth Southgate anticipates similar dilemmas when Italy play England in Euro 2024 qualifying in October.
Harry Maguire has been a first-choice in England’s central defence for most of Southgate’s seven years in the job. Yet Maguire, ushered towards various possible exits by his club Manchester United this summer, can only imagine he will be regularly starting club matches by October if he moves on.
At Old Trafford, he is well down the defenders’ pecking order. United head coach Erik ten Hag has removed the club captaincy from him, unconvinced Maguire is nimble enough with the ball or sufficiently quick on the turn to play a pro-active part in ten Hag’s preferred system. Maguire is only 30 and was the most expensive defender in the sport’s history, at €87 million, when United signed him only four summers ago from Leicester City.
Sergio Ramos is, at 37, further along the career path. But he is the owner of every major honour in the sport – from a World Cup and two European championships with Spain, to the multiple prizes he lifted with Real Madrid – and added more medals with the Ligue 1 titles he claimed from the last two seasons with Paris Saint-Germain, where his contract expired in June.
Yet he is currently unemployed, searching for a place to take his leadership qualities and that goalscoring knack that has always been a welcome extra to his broad, aggressive defensive skill set.
So far, clubs Ramos would like to join have passed on the opportunity. When Real Madrid learnt, after their opening fixture of the new La Liga campaign, that senior centre-back Eder Militao would be absent for months with a cruciate ligament problem, a logic pointed to a year-long deal for the club’s celebrated former captain. But there was no approach.
For Ramos, the King of the Comeback, famed for rescuing results with late goals and interventions, there will be no romantic comeback either to Sevilla, where he started his career.
The player pushed open that door, but heard it shut firmly by Sevilla president Jose Castro.
“Sergio Ramos would like to come to Sevilla? Well, I’d like a private aeroplane,” said Castro. “Nothing against him, but he doesn’t fit into our recruitment policy.”
Results
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,200m, Winner: ES Rubban, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ibrahim Aseel (trainer)
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 (T) 1,200m, Winner: Al Mobher, Sczcepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m, Winner: Jabalini, Tadhg O’Shea, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m, Winner: AF Abahe, Tadgh O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 (T) 1,600m, Winner: AF Makerah, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m, Winner: Law Of Peace, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
FA CUP FINAL
Chelsea 1
Hazard (22' pen)
Manchester United 0
Man of the match: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
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TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SERIES%208
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
Honeymoonish
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Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Profile Box
Company/date started: 2015
Founder/CEO: Mohammed Toraif
Based: Manama, Bahrain
Sector: Sales, Technology, Conservation
Size: (employees/revenue) 4/ 5,000 downloads
Stage: 1 ($100,000)
Investors: Two first-round investors including, 500 Startups, Fawaz Al Gosaibi Holding (Saudi Arabia)
BIOSAFETY LABS SECURITY LEVELS
Biosafety Level 1
The lowest safety level. These labs work with viruses that are minimal risk to humans.
Hand washing is required on entry and exit and potentially infectious material decontaminated with bleach before thrown away.
Must have a lock. Access limited. Lab does not need to be isolated from other buildings.
Used as teaching spaces.
Study microorganisms such as Staphylococcus which causes food poisoning.
Biosafety Level 2
These labs deal with pathogens that can be harmful to people and the environment such as Hepatitis, HIV and salmonella.
Working in Level 2 requires special training in handling pathogenic agents.
Extra safety and security precautions are taken in addition to those at Level 1
Biosafety Level 3
These labs contain material that can be lethal if inhaled. This includes SARS coronavirus, MERS, and yellow fever.
Significant extra precautions are taken with staff given specific immunisations when dealing with certain diseases.
Infectious material is examined in a biological safety cabinet.
Personnel must wear protective gowns that must be discarded or decontaminated after use.
Strict safety and handling procedures are in place. There must be double entrances to the building and they must contain self-closing doors to reduce risk of pathogen aerosols escaping.
Windows must be sealed. Air from must be filtered before it can be recirculated.
Biosafety Level 4
The highest level for biosafety precautions. Scientist work with highly dangerous diseases that have no vaccine or cure.
All material must be decontaminated.
Personnel must wear a positive pressure suit for protection. On leaving the lab this must pass through decontamination shower before they have a personal shower.
Entry is severely restricted to trained and authorised personnel. All entries are recorded.
Entrance must be via airlocks.
MADAME%20WEB
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MATCH INFO
Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')
Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
