By the time Kylian Mbappe had turned 22, he had racked up 22 goals in the most glamorous of club competitions. Erling Haaland will only turn 22 in July. He already has 23 Champions League goals to his name.
In the age of the precocious super-striker, there is some catching up to do for the third member of a cohort of forwards earmarked to set records at the elite level of their sport for the next decade - or, as it’s sometimes put, in what will be football’s post-Messi-and-Ronaldo era.
This evening Dusan Vlahovic belatedly takes to the Champions League stage, making his debut in the competition. He’ll be wearing Ronaldo’s old Juventus jersey and carrying into the compact surroundings of Villarreal’s Ceramica stadium the biggest price-tag from the last transfer window.
Juventus committed €70m, with further €10m in add-ons, to sign Vlahovic from Fiorentina just as he approached his 22nd birthday last month. They came out ahead in a jostle of suitors, among the most determined being Arsenal, and the size of the fee, along with the decision of the player to opt for Juve, signalled a vote of confidence in a club whose fortunes have waned in the past 18 months.
This season, like last, is developing in a battle to finish in Serie A’s top four, a modest target for the winners of nine of the last 10 scudetti, Italian titles. Nor have Juventus’s dealings in the transfer market over recent summers - or winters - greatly polished the club’s high reputation as shrewd recruiters of good-value assets.
Having dedicated a vast chunk of their budget to signing Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018 with the declaration he would be the missing piece of a jigsaw that featured a long-awaited Champions League triumph, they let Ronaldo go, at a loss, last summer.
He had scored, as ever, heavily - but there was no European Cup from his Juve stint to add to the five he has accumulated between spells at Real Madrid, and, back in 2008, Manchester United.
Vlahovic’s Serie A credentials speak for themselves. Fiorentina had him lined up to sign, from Partizan Belgrade as soon as he turned 18. In 108 games for them he struck 44 goals, establishing himself as a high-pedigree penalty-box operator, but with an ever sharper set of tools from deeper and wider positions.
Vlahovic and 90 other notable January transfers
He arrived in Italy dubbed ‘The Zlatan of Belgrade’, a nickname Vlahovic had partly prompted by his own confession that Zlatan Ibrahimovic was his idol and role model growing up.
When Juventus head coach, Max Allegri welcomed him to Turin last month, he moved the dial to the next generation: “He’s up there with the best, alongside Mbappe and Haaland.”
The hype was justified almost immediately. Within 13 minutes of his Juventus debut, Vlahovic had scored his first goal, demonstrating an unflustered cool in his measured lob, on the run, over the advancing Hellas Verona goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipo.
Four evenings later, there was another show reel of Vlahovic’s excellence playing off the shoulder of the last defender. He picked up a long pass, worked his way goalwards from wide on the Juventus left to engineer the winning goal in a Coppa Italian quarter-final against Sassuolo.
The duel for a place in the last eight of the Champions League against Europa League-holders Villarreal, represents a significant step up, said Allegri, tempering his effusive bracketing of his new striker with those European Cup-weathered contemporaries, Haaland and Mbappe.
“We must not weigh Dusan down with responsibilities,” advised the Juve head coach, anticipating an “even, 50-50” last-16 tie. “He has great qualities, but this [the Champions League] is a new experience, and we need to support him.”
Unavailable, because of injury, to back up Vlahovic, will be Pablo Dybala, with whom a promising understanding is already developing. Juventus are likely to be spearheaded by a more like-for-like attacking pair, in Vlahovic and Alvaro Morata.
Morata, whose place in the Juve hierarchy had seemed most compromised by the Vlahovic signing, said yesterday the Serbian forward’s arrival had galvanised Juventus’s season.
“He’s been nothing but positive, on and off the pitch,” said Morata. “He’s a great footballer, he’s young and he has a terrific career ahead of him. He’s adapted very well. We’re all hoping to see him score his first Champions League goals.”
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The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
The specs: 2018 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy
Price, base / as tested Dh97,600
Engine 1,745cc Milwaukee-Eight v-twin engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 78hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque 145Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.0L / 100km (estimate)
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Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
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Lexus LX700h specs
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Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
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Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
The White Lotus: Season three
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Defenders: Ahmad Al Salih, Moayad Ajan, Jehad Al Baour, Omar Midani, Amro Jenyat, Hussein Jwayed, Nadim Sabagh, Abdul Malek Anezan.
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Forwards: Omar Khribin, Omar Al Somah, Mardik Mardikian.
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What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
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What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship
When: December 27-29, 2018
Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae, Virgin megastores or call 800 86 823
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- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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Profile of Tamatem
Date started: March 2013
Founder: Hussam Hammo
Based: Amman, Jordan
Employees: 55
Funding: $6m
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Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
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