Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, has been given the green light to bring in up to three new players after his side turned potential Champions League disaster into likely success in Switzerland on Tuesday night.
After trailing 3-0 after the first half an hour against Young Boys of Berne, Spurs, who initially struggled on an artificial surface, fought back to end the leg 3-2.
"If there is ever such a thing as a good defeat then that was it," Redknapp admitted.
With the cushion of two away goals the club's hierarchy are confident Spurs will complete the task of winning the leg at White Hart Lane next week and will allow Redknapp to spend on new talent, given the £30 million (Dh174m) bounty of Champions League proper which now awaits.
It means that Redknapp will have the resources to make a £15m bid for Luis Fabiano, the Brazil international striker.
Luis Fabiano has just one year left on his contract with Sevilla, the Spanish Primera Liga side, who have just turned down a £12m offer for the player from Marseille, the French champions.
Redknapp has been tracking Luis Fabiano, 29, all summer and now Spurs are on the brink of Champions League qualification the manager wants to add a striker of such proven world class quality to his squad.
"Of course he is the sort of player who would interest us," Redknapp said. "But I am aware Fabiano has other clubs interested. That's because he is such a quality player."
As ever with just two weeks of the transfer window remaining there are plenty of potential twists and turns. Now Marseille have lost out on the Brazilian they have turned their attention to Tottenham's Roman Pavlyuchenko. But it was the Russian striker who scored the vital second goal for Spurs against the Swiss side and even though Redknapp used him sporadically last season he wants to keep the player.
Ideally Redknapp would trade in Robbie Keane, the striker he re-signed from Liverpool in January 2009, and hopes a deal can be agreed with Aston Villa to bring Ashley Young to White Hart Lane in a move that would cost Spurs £10m in cash plus Keane.
Redknapp also wants to secure the services of another centre half. Talks will continue with William Gallas the former Arsenal player who is now free agent, But the France international must drop his £95,000-a-week wage demand for Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman, to sanction a deal.
To help part-finance an influx of new players Keane, midfielders Jermaine Jenas and David Bentley as well as right-back Alan Hutton are all up for sale. Also Redknapp knows he needs to cut the size of his squad to conform to the 25-man Premier League rule, but wants to improve the quality.
Jermain Defoe, the England striker who suffered a groin injury in Tuesday's game, expressed the mood of optimism which now surrounds Spurs about their European chances.
"I think we are destined to be in the Champions League because the two chances they had at the end left me with my heart in my mouth," Defoe said. "I am confident we can win the second leg . It will be massive and it'll be a great atmosphere. We worked so hard last season to get to this stage and we don't want to throw it away. It is massive for the club and all we have to do now is win the game."
sports@thenational.ae
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
BACK%20TO%20ALEXANDRIA
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 400hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh234,000 - Dh329,000
On sale: now
'Skin'
Dir: Guy Nattiv
Starring: Jamie Bell, Danielle McDonald, Bill Camp, Vera Farmiga
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
How to volunteer
The UAE volunteers campaign can be reached at www.volunteers.ae , or by calling 800-VOLAE (80086523), or emailing info@volunteers.ae.
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
World Cup warm-up fixtures
Friday, May 24:
- Pakistan v Afghanistan (Bristol)
- Sri Lanka v South Africa (Cardiff)
Saturday, May 25
- England v Australia (Southampton)
- India v New Zealand (The Oval, London)
Sunday, May 26
- South Africa v West Indies (Bristol)
- Pakistan v Bangladesh (Cardiff)
Monday, May 27
- Australia v Sri Lanka (Southampton)
- England v Afghanistan (The Oval, London)
Tuesday, May 28
- West Indies v New Zealand (Bristol)
- Bangladesh v India (Cardiff)
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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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
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'
Rating: 1 out of 4
Running time: 81 minutes
Director: David Blue Garcia
Starring: Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Mark Burnham
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
