Occasionally, a certain type of player becomes available for transfer who is such an exciting talent that a manager will snap him up without seemingly considering how he will fit in into his team. Buy now, work it out later.
Faustino Asprilla is a prime example. When Kevin Keegan bought the outrageously talented Colombian striker, for £6.7 million (Dh39.5m) in February 1996, Newcastle United had a settled team and were cruising at the top of the Premier League.
Keegan tried to cram Asprilla into a team already packed with flair players - Peter Beardsley, David Ginola, Keith Gillespie - as well as the settled and prolific centre-forward pairing of Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand, who scored 49 goals between them that season.
It upset the balance. A mere 15 games later and Newcastle had thrown away a 12-point lead and conceded the title to Manchester United.
Likewise, United's Sir Alex Ferguson bought Juan Sebastian Veron for £28.1m in the summer of 2001, tempted by the Argentine midfielder's superlative range of passing and skill.
But United already had a star-studded midfield - David Beckham, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs. They played 4-4-2 and five into four does not fit so Veron was played out of position, or as the man behind a lone striker.
Despite winning the league title in 2002/03, Veron was deemed a huge flop at Old Trafford and United took a £13m loss on him after just two years at the club.
But, every now and then, there is a player who has such an impact on a team that he moulds the way they perform and becomes the focal point. Rafael van der Vaart is one such player.
Signed in the last moments of the summer transfer window by Tottenham Hotspur from Real Madrid for a knock-down £8m, the Dutchman has been a revelation.
The attacking midfielder has scored seven times in 11 games, but he has also forced Harry Redknapp, the Spurs manager, to change his tactics. Last season, Tottenham were almost always a 4-4-2 team. Now, partly down to the injury to key striker Jermain Defoe, but also in order to accommodate Van der Vaart, Redknapp has switched to 4-4-1-1, playing the Dutchman in the hole behind Peter Crouch, the lone striker.
Not only has it allowed Redknapp to field more of his talented midfield brigade at once, including the explosive Gareth Bale as a left winger, rather than at left-back, but it has also brought the best out of Crouch. Of Van der Vaart's seven goals, five have been set up by the towering forward.
Tottenham have lost just twice with Van der Vaart on the pitch and he was named the Premier League Player of the Month for October. That makes him only the fifth Dutchman to win the award, after Dennis Bergkamp, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie.
Van der Vaart will hope he can emulate the first three, by winning a Premier League title.
That might be out of Spurs' reach this season, but Van der Vaart's spur-of-the-moment signing is paying off for Redknapp.
twoods@thenational.ae
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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At a glance
Fixtures All matches start at 9.30am, at ICC Academy, Dubai. Admission is free
Thursday UAE v Ireland; Saturday UAE v Ireland; Jan 21 UAE v Scotland; Jan 23 UAE v Scotland
UAE squad Rohan Mustafa (c), Ashfaq Ahmed, Ghulam Shabber, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Shaiman Anwar, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Mohammed Naveed, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan
If you go
Flight connections to Ulaanbaatar are available through a variety of hubs, including Seoul and Beijing, with airlines including Mongolian Airlines and Korean Air. While some nationalities, such as Americans, don’t need a tourist visa for Mongolia, others, including UAE citizens, can obtain a visa on arrival, while others including UK citizens, need to obtain a visa in advance. Contact the Mongolian Embassy in the UAE for more information.
Nomadic Road offers expedition-style trips to Mongolia in January and August, and other destinations during most other months. Its nine-day August 2020 Mongolia trip will cost from $5,250 per person based on two sharing, including airport transfers, two nights’ hotel accommodation in Ulaanbaatar, vehicle rental, fuel, third party vehicle liability insurance, the services of a guide and support team, accommodation, food and entrance fees; nomadicroad.com
A fully guided three-day, two-night itinerary at Three Camel Lodge costs from $2,420 per person based on two sharing, including airport transfers, accommodation, meals and excursions including the Yol Valley and Flaming Cliffs. A return internal flight from Ulaanbaatar to Dalanzadgad costs $300 per person and the flight takes 90 minutes each way; threecamellodge.com
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
