Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is poised to sign a new three-year deal according to the Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti.
The hint was dropped early yesterday shortly after Drogba made his first appearance in pre-season.
Following an injury hit season in 2008-09, Drogba helped his club open their World Football Challenge account as slick Chelsea dominated former manager Jose Mourinho's side Inter Milan in front of 81,224 fans at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
Drogba's future was in question while the offer of a new three-year contract remains unsigned, but Ancelotti revealed the striker indicated he would stay to form a key part of the Italian's new-look team.
"Drogba is a very important player for us and we want him to play for Chelsea," Ancelotti said.
"He's irreplaceable as no other striker in the world can do the same job. I've spoken with Drogba and know what he wants. He told me he's happy to stay."
The Ivory Coast player was naturally ecstatic about the result and glad to be able to contribute under the management of Ancelotti. "We have a new manager now and we're all happy for him because he won his second game out of two, so it's all good," he said.
"We're working hard, this is only the start and we want to be ready for the start of the season."
Of his side coming face to face with Mourinho, Drogba said: "It's always nice to see him, he was a big part of Chelsea's success and now we're moving on."
Goals from Drogba in the 11th minute and a Frank Lampard penalty just after half-time gave Chelsea victory over the Italian champions.
The impressive nature of the Blues' performance more than the scoreline, however, will have delighted Ancelotti, especially coming so soon into the former AC Milan chief's first pre-season campaign and against his former cross-city rivals.
Meanwhile, Ancelotti offered less encouragement to Andriy Shevchenko, who made his name playing for him at AC Milan.
"I speak to Shevchenko every day and the situation is this: he's with us until Aug 31 and then we take a decision together. I don't know what will happen as the club has not received any offers."
Shevchenko cost Chelsea a club record £30.8m (Dh185.6m) when he was signed in 2006, where he returned last year for a loan deal.
* With agencies
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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
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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PAKISTAN SQUAD
Pakistan - Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Aamer Yamin, Rumman Raees.
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.
READ MORE ABOUT CORONAVIRUS
Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:
1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
