Mackenzie Hunt says he feels like his professional football career is finally getting started after he was released by his boyhood club Everton this summer.
The versatile left-sided player was on the brink of becoming the first Dubai-raised footballer to feature in the Premier League last season.
He was on the bench 20 times for the Goodison Park club, yet never made it onto the field as coach Sean Dyche favoured experience in the battle against relegation.
Hunt, 22, was offered an extra year at Everton after his contract expired at the end of the season, but was advised he would be no higher up the pecking order.
As such, he opted to leave a club with which he had been associated for 15 years and seek a fresh start elsewhere.
That meant a move down the divisions to Fleetwood Town, a fourth-tier club with big ambitions and Charlie Adam, the former Liverpool midfielder, as manager.
“I am excited to start my career in the men’s game,” Hunt said. “It will be a different challenge for me this season and I am excited that I will be playing.
“I feel like part of the team and am hoping to have a good season, in what feels like my first professional season in the men’s game.
“Fleetwood had been trying to get me on loan for the past two seasons. We had conversations and they were always keen on me.
“As soon as I made the decision to leave Everton my agent was speaking to a lot of clubs and Fleetwood were the keenest out of anyone.
“I met the manager, Charlie Adam, had a look round the training ground, and went from there.”
The Liverpool-born player had been associated with Everton since he was six years old, even though he lived in Dubai for seven years.
He attended Dubai English Speaking School (DESS) in Oud Metha from Years 4-6, before moving onto secondary school in the city.
After two years at Dubai English Speaking College, he opted to move back to Liverpool to pursue his opportunities with Everton’s academy.
He signed professional terms with the club when he was 17. Last season he was understudy to Ukraine international Vitaliy Mykolenko and former England player Ashley Young in the left-back position.
As Everton battled a points penalty and, as a result, relegation, the chances of a rookie player such as Hunt getting a chance to play diminished throughout the campaign.
“I felt like I was training well and doing all the right things, but the club was in a tough spot and the manager likes experience,” Hunt said.
“It was frustrating for me but it was also a good experience to be on the bench that many times as well. I felt like I was training well and there was a time when the left-back was injured I thought I had a chance of coming on or playing, but it didn’t happen in the end.”
Even if he is now going to have to work his way back to the Premier League, reaching the ranks of the English professional game from Dubai is a remarkable achievement.
Max Lohe, the director of sport at DESS, said Hunt’s sporting prowess was immediately apparent as soon as he joined the school.
He played in DESS’s senior Year 6 football team when he was two years underage, and represented the school at the British Schools Middle East Games in Bahrain.
“He had unbelievable vision for a boy of that age, his skills were good, and he had a good attitude,” Lohe said.
“He was determined, but always very modest and never brash or too big for his boots, even though he was a star in the making.
“There wasn’t even an ounce of arrogance about him. He fitted in at DESS right from Day 1. He was so humble, gave everything for the team, and always came off and thanked the coaches after fixtures or training.
“He was a pleasure to teach, and you could see his potential from that age onwards.”
Hunt’s early promise was polished by some coaches in Dubai with an understanding of what it takes to make reach the top.
Trevor Sinclair and Carlton Palmer, two former England players, were coaching in the city at the time, while Kirk Hilton, a former Manchester United left-back, oversaw Hunt’s development most closely.
Hilton, who is the director of Go Pro Academy in Dubai, said within 30 minutes of first seeing Hunt play as an eight-year-old boy he believed he had the ability to make the professional game.
“He was training with our Under 10s and straight away was running the show,” Hilton said. “I said to Carlton, ‘Wow, he is unbelievable.’ He asked how old he was. I said he was only eight. But he was streets ahead.
“Within the first half-an-hour, we saw how good he was. It wasn’t just his technical ability, it was his brain.
“He could move the ball in one or two touches, and could see things that others couldn’t see, even though he was playing three years up. And he was tiny.”
Hunt was grateful for the advice he got to help him from Dubai to the pro game.
“As I got older, there were a lot of English coaches out in Dubai who had played the game to a good level before,” Hunt said.
“I was coached by Trevor Sinclair and used to play with his kids. They always used to say to me and my mum and dad, ‘Right, you are going to have to make a decision to move back and play for an academy – don’t leave it too late. If you stay out here, the chance may go.’
“When I was 13, me and my mum decided to move back. I went for a six-week trial with Everton, and have been there since.”
Departing Dubai as a young teenager and starting out again in Liverpool was tough, but he said football helped him settle.
“I loved living out in Dubai and school was really enjoyable,” he said. “I definitely missed it when I moved back. It was a bit of a shock.
“It was difficult moving away, especially leaving my dad and my brother there, as I am very close to them.
“I also had a lot of close friends in Dubai, then when I came back to Liverpool I didn’t know anyone. It was a new school, and it was difficult to adjust to, but it was OK in the end.
“At school, coming in and saying that you play for Everton, everyone is your friend. It made it easier, for sure.”
Hunt had to forego a trip back to Dubai the summer as he attempted to settled into his new surroundings with Fleetwood, who start their League 2 campaign against Grimsby Town on Saturday.
Despite that, though, he regularly returns to the city. His deep affinity with the country is evidenced in the fact he now has a UAE passport, and hopes to represent the national team.
He is eligible for the World Cup Qualifiers in September, against Qatar and Iran. Whether that is too soon for him is yet to be seen, but he said he would be thrilled if the call came.
“It is exciting but I won’t know too much about how it feels until I go and do it,” he said of the prospect of playing for the national team.
“I would be happy and excited to represent the UAE because it feels like home to me in lots of ways.”
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
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Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
Brief scoreline:
Liverpool 2
Mane 51', Salah 53'
Chelsea 0
Man of the Match: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Tickets
Tickets start at Dh100 for adults, while children can enter free on the opening day. For more information, visit www.mubadalawtc.com.
SCORES
Yorkshire Vikings 144-1 in 12.5 overs
(Tom Kohler 72 not out, Harry Broook 42 not out)
bt Hobart Hurricanes 140-7 in 20 overs
(Caleb Jewell 38, Sean Willis 35, Karl Carver 2-29, Josh Shaw 2-39)
The UAE squad for the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
The jiu-jitsu men’s team: Faisal Al Ketbi, Zayed Al Kaabi, Yahia Al Hammadi, Taleb Al Kirbi, Obaid Al Nuaimi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Mansoori, Saeed Al Mazroui, Ibrahim Al Hosani, Mohammed Al Qubaisi, Salem Al Suwaidi, Khalfan Belhol, Saood Al Hammadi.
Women’s team: Mouza Al Shamsi, Wadeema Al Yafei, Reem Al Hashmi, Mahra Al Hanaei, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Hessa Thani, Salwa Al Ali.
Match info
Wolves 0
Arsenal 2 (Saka 43', Lacazette 85')
Man of the match: Shkodran Mustafi (Arsenal)
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh1,470,000 (est)
Engine 6.9-litre twin-turbo W12
Gearbox eight-speed automatic
Power 626bhp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 900Nm @ 1,350rpm
Fuel economy, combined 14.0L / 100km
Meydan Racecourse racecard:
6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes Listed (PA) | Dh175,000 | 1,900m
7.05pm: Maiden for 2-year-old fillies (TB) | Dh165,000 | 1,400m
7.40pm: The Dubai Creek Mile Listed (TB) | Dh265,000 | 1,600m
8.15pm: Maiden for 2-year-old colts (TB) | Dh165,000 | 1,600m
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) | Dh265,000 | 2,000m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) | Dh190,000 | 1,200m
10pm: Handicap (TB) | Dh190,000 | 1,600m.
Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
You may remember …
Robbie Keane (Atletico de Kolkata) The Irish striker is, along with his former Spurs teammate Dimitar Berbatov, the headline figure in this season’s ISL, having joined defending champions ATK. His grand entrance after arrival from Major League Soccer in the US will be delayed by three games, though, due to a knee injury.
Dimitar Berbatov (Kerala Blasters) Word has it that Rene Meulensteen, the Kerala manager, plans to deploy his Bulgarian star in central midfield. The idea of Berbatov as an all-action, box-to-box midfielder, might jar with Spurs and Manchester United supporters, who more likely recall an always-languid, often-lazy striker.
Wes Brown (Kerala Blasters) Revived his playing career last season to help out at Blackburn Rovers, where he was also a coach. Since then, the 23-cap England centre back, who is now 38, has been reunited with the former Manchester United assistant coach Meulensteen, after signing for Kerala.
Andre Bikey (Jamshedpur) The Cameroonian defender is onto the 17th club of a career has taken him to Spain, Portugal, Russia, the UK, Greece, and now India. He is still only 32, so there is plenty of time to add to that tally, too. Scored goals against Liverpool and Chelsea during his time with Reading in England.
Emiliano Alfaro (Pune City) The Uruguayan striker has played for Liverpool – the Montevideo one, rather than the better-known side in England – and Lazio in Italy. He was prolific for a season at Al Wasl in the Arabian Gulf League in 2012/13. He returned for one season with Fujairah, whom he left to join Pune.
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Brief scores:
Newcastle United 1
Perez 23'
Wolverhampton Rovers 2
Jota 17', Doherty 90' 4
Red cards: Yedlin 57'
Man of the Match: Diogo Jota (Wolves)
Where to Find Me by Alba Arikha
Alma Books
Company profile
Name: Oulo.com
Founder: Kamal Nazha
Based: Dubai
Founded: 2020
Number of employees: 5
Sector: Technology
Funding: $450,000
When is VAR used?
• Goals
• Penalty decisions
• Direct red-card incidents
• Mistaken identity
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group B
Barcelona v Tottenham Hotspur, midnight
A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
If you go
The flights
Emirates (www.emirates.com) and Etihad (www.etihad.com) both fly direct to Bengaluru, with return fares from Dh 1240. From Bengaluru airport, Coorg is a five-hour drive by car.
The hotels
The Tamara (www.thetamara.com) is located inside a working coffee plantation and offers individual villas with sprawling views of the hills (tariff from Dh1,300, including taxes and breakfast).
When to go
Coorg is an all-year destination, with the peak season for travel extending from the cooler months between October and March.
Gulf Men's League final
Dubai Hurricanes 24-12 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP
Group A
Paraguay
Japan
Switzerland
USA
Group B
Uruguay
Mexico
Italy
Tahiti
Group C
Belarus
UAE
Senegal
Russia
Group D
Brazil
Oman
Portugal
Nigeria
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
TCL INFO
Teams:
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
When December 14-17
The flights: South African Airways flies from Dubai International Airport with a stop in Johannesburg, with prices starting from around Dh4,000 return. Emirates can get you there with a stop in Lusaka from around Dh4,600 return.
The details: Visas are available for 247 Zambian kwacha or US$20 (Dh73) per person on arrival at Livingstone Airport. Single entry into Victoria Falls for international visitors costs 371 kwacha or $30 (Dh110). Microlight flights are available through Batoka Sky, with 15-minute flights costing 2,265 kwacha (Dh680).
Accommodation: The Royal Livingstone Victoria Falls Hotel by Anantara is an ideal place to stay, within walking distance of the falls and right on the Zambezi River. Rooms here start from 6,635 kwacha (Dh2,398) per night, including breakfast, taxes and Wi-Fi. Water arrivals cost from 587 kwacha (Dh212) per person.
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
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Cracks in the Wall
Ben White, Pluto Press
