DUBAI // Ibrahima Toure has flown to France to undergo a medical at Monaco ahead of a move to the French Ligue 2 club after getting the approval from the management at Ajman.
The Senegalese striker, who arrived in the summer after four successful years in Iran, has been one of the most impressive foreign recruits of the season, scoring seven goals for Ajman in the Pro League.
He struck eight more in the Etisalat Cup, including a hat-trick against Sharjah.
The 26 year old's exploits made him a target for some of the bigger Pro League club, but Toure, a product of the youth academy at the French club, Metz, is looking to continue his career in Europe.
"The transaction has been concluded and this is Toure's last appearance with Ajman," Abdul Wahab Abdul Kader, the Ajman coach, said after his team's 4-1 Pro League loss at Al Ain on Saturday.
"We will miss him, but we must respect his choice.
"During the last three or four games, he was not mentally there and could not concentrate. He wanted to leave and the club decided to let him go."
With Toure's departure now confirmed, Ajman will be looking for two foreign players in this transfer window as they have also decided on releasing Olivier Tia, another Ivorian forward.
"We might reveal two important contracts very soon," Abdul Kader said.
Al Ahli have offered a one-year extension to their coach, Quique Sanchez Flores, hoping to keep him at the Rashid Stadium until the end of the 2013 season.
The Spaniard, who replaced Ivan Hasek at the club in November, had signed a contract to the end of the current campaign.
The former Getafe, Valencia, Benfica and Atletico Madrid manager took over the reins at a struggling club but has slowly started to turn Ahli's fortunes around despite playing without his full quota of foreign players, although the club are still 14 points behind the leaders, Al Ain, in seventh place.
A former Spain international and Valencia player, Sanchez Flores has been linked with different European clubs since his arrival in Dubai.
The Brazilian Jakson Coelho, left Ahli for home in December, while Luis Jimenez and Youssef Mohammed have spent more time on the treatment table than on the pitch, leaving Grafite as the only regular starter among the foreign professionals at Ahli.
Jimenez, the club's Chilean playmaker, has turned down a loan move to the Qatar side Al Ahli, preferring to stay in Dubai.
Officials from Qatar's Ahli had met Ahmed Khalifa Hammad, the chief executive of Dubai's Ahli, to discuss a deal.
They were keen on signing Jimenez as a replacement for the Swede, Christian Wilhelmsson, the former Roma and Bolton Wanderers winger, who has returned to Saudi club Al Hilal after spending six months on loan in Qatar.
Ahli, however, want to keep Jimenez and the Chilean does not want a move away.
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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More Expo 2020 Dubai pavilions:
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Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP
Group A
Paraguay
Japan
Switzerland
USA
Group B
Uruguay
Mexico
Italy
Tahiti
Group C
Belarus
UAE
Senegal
Russia
Group D
Brazil
Oman
Portugal
Nigeria
Results
Stage 7:
1. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal - 3:18:29
2. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep - same time
3. Phil Bauhaus (GER) Bahrain Victorious
4. Michael Morkov (DEN) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5. Cees Bol (NED) Team DSM
General Classification:
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - 24:00:28
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers - 0:00:35
3. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:01:02
4. Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:01:42
5. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo - 0:01:45
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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The specs
Engine 60kwh FWD
Battery Rimac 120kwh Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) chemistry
Power 204hp Torque 360Nm
Price, base / as tested Dh174,500
RACE CARD
6.30pm: Baniyas Group 2 (PA) Dh 97,500 (Dirt) 1,400m.
7.05pm Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m
7.40pm Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,400m
8.15pm Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,400m
8.50pm Rated Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm Handicap (TB) Dh 95,000 (D) 1,200m
10pm Handicap (TB) Dh 85,000 (D) 2,000m
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, Group B
Barcelona v Inter Milan
Camp Nou, Barcelona
Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)