Al Jazira have completed the signing of Malian forward Abdoulay Diaby on a two-year contract, the Adnoc Pro League champions announced on Monday.
Jazira manager Marcel Keizer has worked with Diaby when the pair were together at Sporting Lisbon, winning the Portuguese Cup and Portuguese League Cup in the 2018-19 season.
Diaby, 30, has made 24 appearances for his country and scored seven times. He also played for a number of European clubs including French side Lille and Turkish giants Besiktas, as well as Belgium’s Club Brugge, where he won the Belgian Pro League and Super Cup twice.
“I personally know Keizer, I played extremely well under him and we won titles together, yet that was not the only reason I joined,” Diaby said after completing the deal at the Mohamed bin Zayed stadium.
“Al Jazira have an excellent reputation in Europe because a number of global stars have represented the club, including some of the best African players such as the legend George Weah, and other stars such as Jonathan Pitroipa, Mbark Boussoufa and Thulani Serero.
“The club presented me with an outstanding football project, and winning the league last season will boost the confidence we have in ourselves to win more this season. I will give the best of my individual and team ability for the team in order to reach the club’s goals.”
Jazira’s CEO Ali Yousef Al Hammadi said Diaby’s signing was a massive addition to the current squad.
“Abdoulay Diaby was a perfect fit, he has the technical ability needed and has already worked with Marcel who brought out the best in him,” he said.
“We firmly believe that will happen again at Jazira, and Diaby will do extremely well with the help of his teammates.”
Jazira sporting director Mads Davidsen said Diaby has been signed because he fits the profile of the player the club are looking for and expects the Malian to prove a success in the capital.
“Diaby is a player we know very well also as Marcel has worked with him before, so when the opportunity came we believed this is the right profile to add our squad with his international experience and proven record,” he said.
“He covers all offensive positions, so will bring us with various offensive options and especially under Marcel in our style of play, we are convinced we can bring back his best performances.”
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
Green ambitions
- Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
- Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
- Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
- Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water
The five pillars of Islam
Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.
But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.
Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.
So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.
Rory Reynolds
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
