Juventus and Italy hero Bonucci tops list of unwanted and unfashionable defenders

The Juventus No 19 jersey remains unassigned. On Sunday’s opening match day of the Serie A season, the name of Juve’s most experienced player was nowhere near the team-sheet.

His “dignity”, according to the Italian Footballers Association, the body that protects players’ rights, has “been stamped all over” by the club he has represented more than 500 times.

At this stage of every summer, with the close of the transfer window imminent and the competitive season under way, there are hundreds of professional footballers in uncomfortable limbo, told clearly they are not to the taste of the head coach, or too heavy a weight on the salary budget, or, because of a dwindling time left on their contracts, deemed at peak resale value and so being pressured to leave.

The case rocking Juventus has some of those elements. But it’s a headline-grabber because the footballer being marginalised, his “dignity” offended, is the captain of Italy’s national team. He’s the hero of the Azzurri triumph at the last European championship. He is Leo Bonucci.

Eleven weeks ago, when Juventus closed out a difficult 2022/23 with a 1-0 win at Udinese, Bonucci was there, wearing the captain’s armband.

Fast forward to the weekend and Juventus went back to Udinese and won 3-0 with Bonucci entirely absent, despite being under contract – and apparently fit – until the end of next June.

His advisers were meanwhile in serious talks with Lazio, one of the suitors for the 36-year-old defender who, along with an interested Union Berlin can offer Bonucci Champions League football this season were they to lure him and meet his wage expectations before the transfer window closes in 10 days time.

Moving from Juventus will still feel like a wrench and his pointed rejection by the club where Bonucci was a pillar through eight of Juve’s nine successive Serie A titles between 2012 and 2020 is a brutal way to end the relationship.

But Bonucci is 36 and the sort of warrior centre-back whose tough duelling treads a thin line between what’s legitimate and what is punished by a foul. In the age of VAR and magnified scrutiny of contentious tackles, that puts him in a category of defender who have become less fashionable.

This has been a chastening summer for a few. Just as Italy’s new head coach, Luciano Spalletti, faces uncertainties about Bonucci’s status as his captain and defensive leader, his England counterpart Gareth Southgate anticipates similar dilemmas when Italy play England in Euro 2024 qualifying in October.

Manchester United's former captain Harry Maguire is surplus to requirements at Old Trafford. Reuters

Harry Maguire has been a first-choice in England’s central defence for most of Southgate’s seven years in the job. Yet Maguire, ushered towards various possible exits by his club Manchester United this summer, can only imagine he will be regularly starting club matches by October if he moves on.

At Old Trafford, he is well down the defenders’ pecking order. United head coach Erik ten Hag has removed the club captaincy from him, unconvinced Maguire is nimble enough with the ball or sufficiently quick on the turn to play a pro-active part in ten Hag’s preferred system. Maguire is only 30 and was the most expensive defender in the sport’s history, at €87 million, when United signed him only four summers ago from Leicester City.

Sergio Ramos is, at 37, further along the career path. But he is the owner of every major honour in the sport – from a World Cup and two European championships with Spain, to the multiple prizes he lifted with Real Madrid – and added more medals with the Ligue 1 titles he claimed from the last two seasons with Paris Saint-Germain, where his contract expired in June.

Sergio Ramos remains without a club since leaving Paris Saint-Germain. Getty

Yet he is currently unemployed, searching for a place to take his leadership qualities and that goalscoring knack that has always been a welcome extra to his broad, aggressive defensive skill set.

So far, clubs Ramos would like to join have passed on the opportunity. When Real Madrid learnt, after their opening fixture of the new La Liga campaign, that senior centre-back Eder Militao would be absent for months with a cruciate ligament problem, a logic pointed to a year-long deal for the club’s celebrated former captain. But there was no approach.

For Ramos, the King of the Comeback, famed for rescuing results with late goals and interventions, there will be no romantic comeback either to Sevilla, where he started his career.

The player pushed open that door, but heard it shut firmly by Sevilla president Jose Castro.

“Sergio Ramos would like to come to Sevilla? Well, I’d like a private aeroplane,” said Castro. “Nothing against him, but he doesn’t fit into our recruitment policy.”

Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026

1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years

If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.

2. E-invoicing in the UAE

Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.

3. More tax audits

Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.

4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime

Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.

5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit

There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.

6. Further transfer pricing enforcement

Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.

7. Limited time periods for audits

Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.

8. Pillar 2 implementation

Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.

9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services

Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.

10. Substance and CbC reporting focus

Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.

Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Explainer: Tanween Design Programme

Non-profit arts studio Tashkeel launched this annual initiative with the intention of supporting budding designers in the UAE. This year, three talents were chosen from hundreds of applicants to be a part of the sixth creative development programme. These are architect Abdulla Al Mulla, interior designer Lana El Samman and graphic designer Yara Habib.

The trio have been guided by experts from the industry over the course of nine months, as they developed their own products that merge their unique styles with traditional elements of Emirati design. This includes laboratory sessions, experimental and collaborative practice, investigation of new business models and evaluation.

It is led by British contemporary design project specialist Helen Voce and mentor Kevin Badni, and offers participants access to experts from across the world, including the likes of UK designer Gareth Neal and multidisciplinary designer and entrepreneur, Sheikh Salem Al Qassimi.

The final pieces are being revealed in a worldwide limited-edition release on the first day of Downtown Designs at Dubai Design Week 2019. Tashkeel will be at stand E31 at the exhibition.

Lisa Ball-Lechgar, deputy director of Tashkeel, said: “The diversity and calibre of the applicants this year … is reflective of the dynamic change that the UAE art and design industry is witnessing, with young creators resolute in making their bold design ideas a reality.”