Wayne Rooney could play for Manchester United at Sunderland tomorrow.
The 34-goal striker was thought to be out for the season after he missed the win over Tottenham last week with a groin injury. That was on top of an ankle injury that forced him out of two games, including the home defeat to Chelsea last month.
But Rooney, along with Rio Ferdinand who has also been out with a groin injury, trained yesterday morning ahead of a likely return against Steve Bruce's men, who have only lost twice on home soil this season.
"We will see how they do but we have a couple of days," said Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager. "Wayne missed last week's game against Tottenham to allow the ankle to settle.
"We don't have any issues with that now. Hopefully he is okay."
Rooney claimed his second major award of a remarkable season yesterday when he was named Footballer of the Year for the first time by the Football Writers Association (FWA) in England. Rooney, who was voted the PFA Player of the Year on Sunday by his fellow players, took 80 per cent of the votes cast by members of the FWA, with Didier Drogba, the Chelsea striker, a distant second.
Meanwhile, Gary Neville, 35, the United right-back, has signed a one-year contract extension with the club.
* Agencies
Director: Paul Weitz
Stars: Kevin Hart
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950