Almost everybody who was there can remember the worst pass Renato Sanches ever made. It was so poorly placed it became a viral sensation.
He was playing for Swansea City, then of the English Premier League, on a late November night at Chelsea. He was wearing the Welsh club’s away kit, a similar share of red to a large logo on one of the perimeter advertising hoardings at Stamford Bridge.
Ball at his feet in midfield, under no particular opposition pressure, Sanches side-footed the ball directly out of play, over the touchline, to no teammate but directly at said logo. In the technical area, his head coach Paul Clement lowered his head into his hand in disbelief. Spectators laughed. Sanches was substituted at half-time.
The moment remains infamous, vivid in the memory because it marked the nadir of a young, hyped player’s sudden plunge. Sanches had found himself playing for Swansea – misplacing a pass, and blaming it on the visual disturbance of an advertising board – on loan barely six months after he had picked up a Bundesliga winners medal with Bayern Munich. Not much more than a year had passed since he won Euro 2016 as a teenager with Portugal and starred in Benfica’s league-winning side.
That year he won the ‘Golden Boy’ award, the prize for the best footballer under 21 in Europe. He had a queue of suitors. Bayern had agreed a transfer fee with Benfica of €35 million well ahead of the Euros, mindful other superclubs would be chasing him ever harder once they saw him galvanise the midfield in Portugal’s historic triumph.
It seemed a long way down to being shipped off to Swansea. Bayern had lost faith in him in the course of his first season in Bavaria. But the story of Sanches, or simply Renato as he is mostly known, would have many more fluctuations. It still does, and keeps straying from the trajectory gloomily forecast for him as he turned 20, and found that even relegation-bound Swansea had little use for him.
Here, it was assumed, was a classic sporting tale: too much, too young, a prodigy overhyped and overrated then painfully exposed by the hard, hurried world of the adult sport. “He had big talent, but he stopped learning when he left Benfica and went to one of the biggest clubs in the world,” concluded Carlos Carvalhal, his Portuguese compatriot and the manager who replaced Clement at Swansea.
Five years later, the verdict on Renato is more nuanced. The learning did not stop but re-started, albeit in fits and starts but enough of them to make it unwise to predict that, as he approaches his 26th birthday next month, Renato will never climb close to the peaks predicted for him as a dynamic all-round midfielder.
He has added three more league titles - one with Bayern where he returned, and found a happier niche, from Swansea; another as part of the upstart Lille team of 2020/21 – and has again come into the view of superclubs, as did in his wonderboy days.
He spent last season at Paris Saint-Germain, who bought him from Lille and where won Ligue 1 for the second season running. Last month, Renato was recalled to the Portugal national squad for the first time since 2021.
Next month, Renato anticipates another restart, a probable departure from Paris with the new PSG head coach Luis Enrique seemingly less of an enthusiast about him than his predecessor Christophe Galtier - who also oversaw Renato’s renaissance at Lille - had been.
A journey that has passed through Lisbon, Munich, South Wales, northern France and Paris may soon be heading not downwards but sideways, and to Rome. An adventure in Serie A to add to his experiences of the Bundesliga, the Premier League, and to the top divisions of Portugal and France, beckons.
Roma have been in prolonged negotiations with PSG over a loan for Renato, with a view to a permanent signing. If they bear fruit, he would certainly add to his learning. Jose Mourinho, his compatriot, is about to begin his third season in charge of Roma, and, working with a restricted budget, is backing himself to maximise the potential of various former prodigies.
Paulo Dybala, once a celebrated teenaged starlet, joined Mourinho at Roma from Juventus last season, and at 29, had his most effective year as a goalscorer since 2017/18. Among this summer’s arrivals at Roma is Houssem Aouar, the Algeria international and former Golden Boy nominee, now 25 and keen to fulfill the forecasts made of his great playmaking potential during his breakthrough period at Olympique Lyonnais.
“Mourinho had a big part in my deciding on Roma,” said Aouar, “I couldn’t say no to the chance to be coached by a phenomenon.” Renato hears that, and knows there are many years of learning left if he plans them wisely.
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
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.
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
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
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
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
The specs
Engine: 5.2-litre V10
Power: 640hp at 8,000rpm
Torque: 565Nm at 6,500rpm
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: From Dh1 million
On sale: Q3 or Q4 2022
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3.5-litre%20twin-turbo%20V6%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E456hp%20at%205%2C000rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E691Nm%20at%203%2C500rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E10-speed%20auto%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E14.6L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Efrom%20Dh349%2C545%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Enow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Company profile
Name: Tratok Portal
Founded: 2017
Based: UAE
Sector: Travel & tourism
Size: 36 employees
Funding: Privately funded
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
Why your domicile status is important
Your UK residence status is assessed using the statutory residence test. While your residence status – ie where you live - is assessed every year, your domicile status is assessed over your lifetime.
Your domicile of origin generally comes from your parents and if your parents were not married, then it is decided by your father. Your domicile is generally the country your father considered his permanent home when you were born.
UK residents who have their permanent home ("domicile") outside the UK may not have to pay UK tax on foreign income. For example, they do not pay tax on foreign income or gains if they are less than £2,000 in the tax year and do not transfer that gain to a UK bank account.
A UK-domiciled person, however, is liable for UK tax on their worldwide income and gains when they are resident in the UK.
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