Emmanuel Adebayor, the want-away Manchester City striker, will have noted with interest how the Abu Dhabi-owned club lowered their asking price for Jerome Boateng yesterday and allowed him to join Bayern Munich.
Boateng, 22, is with the City squad in Los Angeles but is expected to arrive in Munich in the next few days for a medical after the two clubs agreed on a deal reportedly worth ?13.5million (Dh70,634m) rising to ?17m depending on various clauses. City had been asking in the region of ?20m for a player they paid £10.4m (Dh61.705m) to sign from Hamburg 12 months ago.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the Bayern chief executive officer, acknowledged the negotiations "were intense".
"It took a long time before we could get this transfer to a satisfactory conclusion," Rummenigge said.
Boateng's arrival will be Bayern's fifth summer signing - along with the Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, Rafinha, a Brazil defender, the striker Nils Petersen and Japan's rising star Takashi Usami - and ends their interest in Alex, Chelsea's Brazilian defender.
Adebayor hopes to join Boateng in walking through the exit door at the Etihad Stadium and his preferred destination is Real Madrid.
Real, however, are not prepared to pay anything like the reported £25m City paid for the Togolese striker in 2009. Adebayor has fallen badly out of favour at City, but the club will not be prepared to sell the player for a cut-price fee, especially with the future of Carlos Tevez so uncertain.
Adebayor is likely to have to lower his wage demands if he is to secure a dream return to the Bernabeu, where he spent the second half of last season on loan.
"I don't want to go anywhere other than Madrid," Adebayor told AS, the Spanish newspaper. "If I could play three or four years in Madrid, I would retire at the club."
Working with Jose Mourinho, the Real manager, is key to Adebayor's desire to go back to Spain.
"He gave me the confidence I needed, made me believe in myself and enjoy football again," Adebayor said. "Mourinho is the best coach I've ever worked with, no doubt, and Madrid will win titles with him. I would love to play under him again and I say, 'I'm here if you need me'."
Patrick Vieira, meanwhile, has retired as a player to take up a new role of football development executive at City
"This role is a fantastic new challenge for me, and I am very grateful to Manchester City for offering me this opportunity," Vieira said.
"I have a lot to learn about the non-playing areas of the business, but there are many very experienced people here for me to learn from, and I am confident that I can make a significant contribution to the club's ongoing success."
Vieira's new post will entail "a wide-ranging role, helping to deliver the club's social responsibility programme, both in the UK and abroad, as well as working closely with City's commercial partners, and taking an active role in the development of youngsters at the Platt Lane complex".
* Compiled by The National staff
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Brief scores:
Toss: Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi, chose to field
Environment Agency: 193-3 (20 ov)
Ikhlaq 76 not out, Khaliya 58, Ahsan 55
Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi: 194-2 (18.3 ov)
Afridi 95 not out, Sajid 55, Rizwan 36 not out
Result: Pakhtunkhwa won by 8 wickets
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Specs
Engine: 2-litre
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 255hp
Torque: 273Nm
Price: Dh240,000
Which honey takes your fancy?
Al Ghaf Honey
The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year
Sidr Honey
The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest
Samar Honey
The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments
VERSTAPPEN'S FIRSTS
Youngest F1 driver (17 years 3 days Japan 2014)
Youngest driver to start an F1 race (17 years 166 days – Australia 2015)
Youngest F1 driver to score points (17 years 180 days - Malaysia 2015)
Youngest driver to lead an F1 race (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest driver to set an F1 fastest lap (19 years 44 days – Brazil 2016)
Youngest on F1 podium finish (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest F1 winner (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest multiple F1 race winner (Mexico 2017/18)
Youngest F1 driver to win the same race (Mexico 2017/18)
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
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Royal wedding inspired menu
Ginger, citrus and orange blossom iced tea
Avocado ranch dip with crudites
Cucumber, smoked salmon and cream cheese mini club sandwiches
Elderflower and lemon syllabub meringue
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
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
