Manchester City completed one of the most exciting deals of the summer as they signed England midfielder Jack Grealish on Thursday.
The Aston Villa star was secured for a reported fee of £100 million ($139.8m), making him the most expensive signing in British football history.
Grealish had spent his entire career at boyhood club Aston Villa, barring a loan spell at Notts County in 2013/14, and was made captain in 2019, helping the club gain promotion to the Premier League.
Aston Villa CEO Christian Purslow said Grealish had signed the new contract on the condition that if a club playing in the Champions League were interested in him, Villa would not stand in the way if they weren't in the competition. Villa finished 11th last season, failing to qualify for the Champions League.
The stage is now set for Grealish to team up with Pep Guardiola and fight for trophies in the UK and Europe. Following the signing, Grealish had a special message for Manchester City fans in Abu Dhabi.
“Thank you to all for the support. I am absolutely delighted to be here," said Grealish, who will wear the number 10 jersey.
"I can’t wait to get going. One thing I will do is, every single game I will play with my heart on my sleeve. I will give everything I can. I can’t wait to get going. Over the next however many years, we can share good memories together and win a lot of trophies. Because that’s what I have come here for.”
The midfielder has been in prime form, scoring six goals in the Premier League last season, and providing 10 assists. He also helped England reach the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley.
The lure of playing at City was therefore too good to resist. When asked what attracted him to the club, Grealish said it was a combination of factors.
"It was a few things actually. One, the manager. Everyone knows that he is the best manager in the world," the 25-year-old said.
"Two, being in Europe in the Champions League. Something I have always wanted to do since I was a kid. Last season, when I was sitting there on a Tuesday or Wednesday night, watching at home, that was something I was desperate to be involved in.
"Three, the players here. Everyone knows how much of a fan I am of Kevin de Bruyne. So it will be a pleasure to play with him.
"Every single season, it shows… how Man City as a club compete for every single trophy. And that’s what I have come here to do - to win trophies, to win medals and I can’t wait to do that."
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Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
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RESULT
Bayern Munich 3 Chelsea 2
Bayern: Rafinha (6'), Muller (12', 27')
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COMPANY PROFILE
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
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Co-founders: Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder/chief executive, Ashlesh Sharma, co-founder/chief technology officer, Lakshmi Subramanian, co-founder/chief scientist
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Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.
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1. |
United States |
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2. |
China |
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3. |
UAE |
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4. |
Japan |
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5 |
Norway |
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Canada |
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7. |
Singapore |
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Australia |
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Saudi Arabia |
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South Korea |
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The major Hashd factions linked to Iran:
Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.
Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.
Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.
Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.
Saraya Al Khorasani: The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.
(Source: The Wilson Centre, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation)
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This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
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