Dig around the margins of Chelsea’s vast squad, and you find two of the good reasons why Borussia Dortmund are considered modern masters in the business of buying and selling. They are Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Christian Pulisic.
In successive winter transfer windows, Dortmund sold those two strikers for combined fees of more than €120 million ($129m) and upwards of €100m in profit.
That was a few years ago, before the sales by Dortmund of Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland and just after they had drawn €140m out of Barcelona for a young Ousmane Dembele. It was a period when €120m was far more than might be routinely paid for a deep-lying midfielder with only six months experience in a European league, like it was last month for Enzo Fernandez. But that’s how inflation in the transfer market works.
Chelsea, who visit Dortmund in the Champions League on Wednesday, are the drivers of the latest bout of it, the €120m Fernandez, their recruit from Benfica, just one of the huge new pricetags in their catalogue.
The Chelsea team selected by Graham Potter, a manager whose debut in the knockout stage of the European Cup is bound to be judged on what use he makes of expensive new signings, will not include Pulisic, who is coming back from a knee injury.
It cannot include Aubameyang, whose fall down the Chelsea hierarchy is one knock-on effect of the spectacular splurge on talent the London club have made in the last six months. Aubameyang, who joined Arsenal from Dortmund in 2018 and Chelsea last summer from Barcelona, has been left out entirely from Potter’s Champions League squad and now finds himself in the logjam of stars feeling suddenly surplus.
The frenzied turnover of personnel at Stamford Bridge makes Chelsea a puzzle for opponents.
“It means they are not easy to analyse,” said the Dortmund coach Edin Terzic. “We started looking at them after the draw [for the last-16] was made last year, and then they brought in a lot of players.”
Chelsea salaries after 2023 transfer window
Eight in the winter window at a cost of more than €300m, only three of whom can be added, midseason, to the squad for European competition under Uefa rules. The chosen trio are Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk and the on-loan Joao Felix, who played respectively in the group phase for Benfica, Shakhtar Donetsk and Atletico Madrid.
“They have brought in truly top players,” added Terzic. “There’ll be some on the bench who won the Champions League final only two years ago. We know the quality: Joao Felix has been in form recently, and moving across positions in a way that teammates are finding him. He and Fernandez can unlock games. Mudryk showed his ability on the wing at Shakhtar. But you can’t predict exactly what line-up they will use.”
What Terzic can do is second-guess, with some authority, Potter’s instincts. The two managers, both in their 40s, got to know each other on coaching courses run in England, where Terzic worked as an assistant to Slaven Bilic at West Ham. He and Potter remained in touch.
“He’s an impressive character,” said the German, who was promoted from within the Dortmund hierarchy to caretaker coach two seasons ago – just as Potter was enhancing his reputation at Brighton – and returned to the Dortmund post permanently last summer, just before Potter was poached by Chelsea.
“Two years ago, we probably wouldn’t have forecast that we’d be seeing each other in the Champions League last-16,” the German said with a smile.
Nor, given Chelsea’s January spending and the fact that Dortmund came into the new year sixth in the Bundesliga after successive defeats, would it have been predicted six weeks ago that Terzic’s side would be the form team going into the first leg. While juggling which of his new stars to pick and where to position them, Potter has overseen just one win in seven league games. Dortmund won their sixth on the trot at the weekend.
That’s the sort of consistency that speaks of stable ideas, even if some of those wins, like the 4-3 see-saw against Augsburg or the stoppage-time comeback against Mainz, shredded Terzic’s nerves.
Dortmund have strengthened in the winter window too. If the €5m addition of full-back Julian Ryerson is hardly the sort of transfer that would excite the Chelsea of 2023, the major good news of Dortmund’s new year was the return to action of striker Sebastien Haller, who joined last summer from Ajax but was almost immediately diagnosed with testicular cancer.
His treatment has been successful. Haller made his debut for Dortmund last month and scored his first goal against Freiburg 11 days ago.
On Wednesday evening he returns to a competition he has a special affinity with, having had his first taste of it last season with Ajax. He promptly scored 11 goals in just seven and a half games.
“He’s important for us,” said Terzic, “and I feel not just his excitement but everybody’s.”
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
The%20specs
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The specs
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Power: 272hp at 6,400rpm
Torque: 331Nm from 5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.7L/100km
On sale: now
Price: Dh149,000
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
- Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs
- Thursday 20 January: v England
- Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad:
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith
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
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Teachers' pay - what you need to know
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
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La Mer lowdown
La Mer beach is open from 10am until midnight, daily, and is located in Jumeirah 1, well after Kite Beach. Some restaurants, like Cupagahwa, are open from 8am for breakfast; most others start at noon. At the time of writing, we noticed that signs for Vicolo, an Italian eatery, and Kaftan, a Turkish restaurant, indicated that these two restaurants will be open soon, most likely this month. Parking is available, as well as a Dh100 all-day valet option or a Dh50 valet service if you’re just stopping by for a few hours.
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ON%20TRACK
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'Moonshot'
Director: Chris Winterbauer
Stars: Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse
Rating: 3/5
Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Zodi%20%26%20Tehu%3A%20Princes%20Of%20The%20Desert
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FA CUP FINAL
Manchester City 6
(D Silva 26', Sterling 38', 81', 87', De Bruyne 61', Jesus 68')
Watford 0
Man of the match: Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
Teams
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shanwari, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Corey Anderson, Mark Chapman, Lockie Ferguson, Colin de Grandhomme, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Seth Rance, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Dates for the diary
To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:
- September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
- October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
- October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
- November 9 Bodytree is hosting a party to celebrate turning 10, and everyone is invited. Expect a day full of free classes on the grounds of the studio.
- December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
- February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.
Packages which the US Secret Service said contained possible explosive devices were sent to:
- Former first lady Hillary Clinton
- Former US president Barack Obama
- Philanthropist and businessman George Soros
- Former CIA director John Brennan at CNN's New York bureau
- Former Attorney General Eric Holder (delivered to former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz)
- California Congresswoman Maxine Waters (two devices)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
