RB Leipzig's Josko Gvardiol looks set to join Premier League and European champions Manchester City. PA
RB Leipzig's Josko Gvardiol looks set to join Premier League and European champions Manchester City. PA
RB Leipzig's Josko Gvardiol looks set to join Premier League and European champions Manchester City. PA
RB Leipzig's Josko Gvardiol looks set to join Premier League and European champions Manchester City. PA

Josko Gvardiol set for Man City move as Kyle Walker eyes Bayern switch


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The transfer rumour mill is in full swing with daily stories of players arriving and leaving.

Here we bring you the best transfer gossip and the likelihood of those transfer stories materialising.

Josko Gvardiol looks set for a move to Manchester City, with the Premier League champions agreeing a fee with RB Leipzig for the defender, according to Fabrizio Romano. The Croatian international has been on City's radar since January, and had already agreed personal terms with the club in June. It is reported that the 21-year-old has completed the first stage of his medical, with a deal close to being finalised.

Al Nassr are in talks with Bayer Leverkusen regarding a move for Moussa Diaby, according to journalist Rudy Galetti. The Frenchman was subject to interest from Premier League outfit Aston Villa, however, Galetti states that Diaby has informed Leverkusen that he would prefer a move to Saudi Arabia, having already agreed personal terms with Al Nassr. The 24-year-old enjoyed an impressive season in Germany in 2022/23, netting 14 goals and 11 assists across all competitions.

Kyle Walker has informed Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola of his intention to join Bayern Munich, per Sky Sports Deutschland’s Florian Plettenberg. According to Plettenberg, the England defender has already agreed personal terms with the Bavarian giants, which would see the full-back sign a two-year deal with the potential option of a further year. While there has been no agreement with Manchester City, Bayern’s first offer is set to be submitted soon.

Al Ahli have made a €25 million offer for Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin. However, the approach falls short of the Magpies’ valuation, reports Fabrizio Romano. Saint-Maximin, 26, missed Newcastle’s recent friendly against Rangers, with manager Eddie Howe confirming that the Frenchman is in talks regarding a move away from St James’ Park. Romano suggests that a deal is entering the “crucial stages.”

Saudi clubs are still keeping tabs on Chelsea forward Romelu Lukaku and are ready to pounce if a transfer to Juventus falls through, per Fabrizio Romano. The Belgium international is thought to be eager to stay in Europe, and has prioritised a move to Juventus, after Inter Milan withdrew their interest. However, it is believed that Saudi clubs are still pushing for the 30-year-old, who Chelsea are happy to offload this summer.

Liverpool are interested in Crystal Palace midfielder Cheick Doucoure, report The Athletic. The report reveals that Palace will only consider bids of a “significant sum” for a player who moved to Selhurst Park on a five-year contract in July 2022. Liverpool are in the market for midfield reinforcements, with Fabinho and Jordan Henderson set to depart for Saudi Arabia, making funds available for a potential Doucoure swoop.

Al Hilal have shown an interest in Liverpool’s Luis Diaz, however, the Premier League club intend to reject any offers for the 26-year-old, reveal The Athletic. Diaz arrived at the Merseyside club in January 2022 from Porto, however, a knee injury ruled him out of a significant portion of last season. Despite his injury concerns, the report states that Jurgen Klopp views the Colombian winger as an integral part of his squad.

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

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Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

Thank You for Banking with Us

Director: Laila Abbas

Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum

Rating: 4/5

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Where to buy

Limited-edition art prints of The Sofa Series: Sultani can be acquired from Reem El Mutwalli at www.reemelmutwalli.com

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Brief scores:

Day 1

Toss: India, chose to bat

India (1st innings): 215-2 (89 ov)

Agarwal 76, Pujara 68 not out; Cummins 2-40

57%20Seconds
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Gertrude Bell's life in focus

A feature film

At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.

A documentary

A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.

Books, letters and archives

Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
 

Updated: July 20, 2023, 7:25 AM`