Liverpool's Georginio Wijnaldum is without a new contract. PA
Liverpool's Georginio Wijnaldum is without a new contract. PA
Liverpool's Georginio Wijnaldum is without a new contract. PA
Liverpool's Georginio Wijnaldum is without a new contract. PA

Georginio Wijnaldum the unexpected anomaly in Liverpool’s all-conquering team


Richard Jolly
  • English
  • Arabic

For a year, the new contracts kept coming. The feared front three all signed, and both full-backs.

Virgil van Dijk put pen to paper, along with Joe Gomez and Joel Matip. Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain committed their futures.

It meant that, as Liverpool’s all-conquering team were being rewarded, one by one, Georginio Wijnaldum was next. He still is, after youngsters Curtis Jones and Neco Williams have had their deals upgraded, three months after a supposed breakthrough in talks, 10 from the end of his contract.

An impasse increases the possibility one of Jurgen Klopp’s flagship successes, a player plucked from relegated Newcastle United to become the most-used midfielder for European and English champions, could be the exception to the rule, the one who does not stay together.

Liverpool’s muted approach to the transfer market is in part because much of their energy and resources have been committed to keeping the team they assembled.

All bar Wijnaldum; every regular except him and the 34-year-old Milner is tied down until at least 2023.

He is the unexpected anomaly, a footballer valued by Klopp even when the wider world sometimes assumed he was surplus to requirements.

Go back to 2018 and Wijnaldum was tipped to leave when Liverpool signed Naby Keita and Fabinho. Klopp did not consider letting him go. Wijnaldum has only missed four league games since then.

Likeable and low-maintenance, he has often escaped attention. Until now, which highlights unexpected developments at two of Europe’s superclubs.

Wijnaldum helped hasten the end of an era at Barcelona, his brace at Anfield in the 2019 Champions League semi-final illustrating an ageing team could not cope with Liverpool’s pace.

The appointment of Ronald Koeman, who has made him more prolific for his country than his club during his days as Holland manager, has taken an admirer to the Camp Nou at a time when Barcelona need an overhaul.

Wijnaldum’s links with Koeman date back to when Erwin, Ronald’s brother, gave him his Feyenoord debut at 16.

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Liverpool 2019/20 player ratings

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Meanwhile, the sudden availability of Thiago Alcantara offers a ready-made replacement; one who, with a year left on his Bayern Munich contract, is in a similar situation.

It is unlike Liverpool to spend heavily on a 29-year-old, but Bayern believe they will submit a bid. “It looks like he will leave us,” CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said this week. “I expect an offer in the next few days.” The Spaniard would reportedly love to play for Klopp.

The question is if Klopp wants to alter a winning formula, or indeed if he feels he needs to inject another dimension to his midfield: Wijnaldum has been essential to Liverpool’s unique blueprint, where the full-backs advance beyond the midfielders and provide more of the creativity.

Wijnaldum has not recorded an assist in either the Premier or the Champions League for two years, but he is charged with knitting a team together and covering gaps.

He is remarkably accurate in possession, completing 91 per cent of passes in the last two seasons in the Premier League, and sometimes those figures are still higher in major matches. He is trusted as a big-game player.

Thiago should bring similar metronomic reliability but offers the promise of more incision.

Klopp often benches his high-speed runners in favour of his most solid trio in midfield, especially against elite opponents, but Thiago is likelier to play a defence-splitting pass than any of them and a reliance on the full-backs’ crossing was highlighted in the Community Shield when the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold was missed.

Perhaps Wijnaldum will be sacrificed in the quest to evolve. Or maybe a saga will end with the most understated of Liverpool’s regulars signing after an increasingly strange delay.

Cryopreservation: A timeline
  1. Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
  2. Ovarian tissue surgically removed
  3. Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
  4. Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
  5. Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months

Understand What Black Is

The Last Poets

(Studio Rockers)

Cricket World Cup League 2 Fixtures

Saturday March 5, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy (all matches start at 9.30am)

Sunday March 6, Oman v Namibia, ICC Academy

Tuesday March 8, UAE v Namibia, ICC Academy

Wednesday March 9, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy

Friday March 11, Oman v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium

Saturday March 12, UAE v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium

UAE squad

Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri, Muhammad Waseem, CP Rizwan, Vriitya Aravind, Asif Khan, Basil Hameed, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Karthik Meiyappan, Akif Raja, Rahul Bhatia

How to apply for a drone permit
  • Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
  • Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
  • Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
  • Submit their request
What are the regulations?
  • Fly it within visual line of sight
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company Profile

Company name: Fine Diner

Started: March, 2020

Co-founders: Sami Elayan, Saed Elayan and Zaid Azzouka

Based: Dubai

Industry: Technology and food delivery

Initial investment: Dh75,000

Investor: Dtec Startupbootcamp

Future plan: Looking to raise $400,000

Total sales: Over 1,000 deliveries in three months

Pharaoh's curse

British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.

How Sputnik V works
UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

While you're here
Venom

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed

Rating: 1.5/5

'Skin'

Dir: Guy Nattiv

Starring: Jamie Bell, Danielle McDonald, Bill Camp, Vera Farmiga

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The rules on fostering in the UAE

A foster couple or family must:

  • be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
  • not be younger than 25 years old
  • not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
  • be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
  • have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
  • undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
  • A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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
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  • 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
Our legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

ENGLAND TEAM

England (15-1)
George Furbank; Jonny May, Manu Tuilagi, Owen Farrell (capt), Elliot Daly; George Ford, Ben Youngs; Tom Curry, Sam Underhill, Courtney Lawes; Charlie Ewels, Maro Itoje; Kyle Sinckler, Jamie George, Joe Marler
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ellis Genge, Will Stuart, George Kruis, Lewis Ludlam, Willi Heinz, Ollie Devoto, Jonathan Joseph

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What is the Supreme Petroleum Council?

The Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council was established in 1988 and is the highest governing body in Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas industry. The council formulates, oversees and executes the emirate’s petroleum-related policies. It also approves the allocation of capital spending across state-owned Adnoc’s upstream, downstream and midstream operations and functions as the company’s board of directors. The SPC’s mandate is also required for auctioning oil and gas concessions in Abu Dhabi and for awarding blocks to international oil companies. The council is chaired by Sheikh Khalifa, the President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi while Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, is the vice chairman.

FIGHT CARD

Bantamweight Hamza Bougamza (MAR) v Jalal Al Daaja (JOR)

Catchweight 67kg Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR) v Fouad Mesdari (ALG)

Lighweight Abdullah Mohammed Ali (UAE) v Abdelhak Amhidra (MAR)

Catchweight 73kg Mostafa Ibrahim Radi (PAL) v Yazid Chouchane (ALG)

Middleweight Yousri Belgaroui (TUN) v Badreddine Diani (MAR)

Catchweight 78kg Rashed Dawood (UAE) v Adnan Bushashy (ALG)

Middleweight Sallaheddine Dekhissi (MAR) v Abdel Emam (EGY)

Catchweight 65kg Rachid Hazoume (MAR) v Yanis Ghemmouri (ALG)

Lighweight Mohammed Yahya (UAE) v Azouz Anwar (EGY)

Catchweight 79kg Omar Hussein (PAL) v Souhil Tahiri (ALG)

Middleweight Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Laid Zerhouni (ALG)

The bio

Date of Birth: April 25, 1993
Place of Birth: Dubai, UAE
Marital Status: Single
School: Al Sufouh in Jumeirah, Dubai
University: Emirates Airline National Cadet Programme and Hamdan University
Job Title: Pilot, First Officer
Number of hours flying in a Boeing 777: 1,200
Number of flights: Approximately 300
Hobbies: Exercising
Nicest destination: Milan, New Zealand, Seattle for shopping
Least nice destination: Kabul, but someone has to do it. It’s not scary but at least you can tick the box that you’ve been
Favourite place to visit: Dubai, there’s no place like home

Team Angel Wolf Beach Blast takes place every Wednesday between 4:30pm and 5:30pm

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