Diego Forlan, the Uruguayan striker, has joined Japanese club Cerezo Osaka on an 18-month contract.
The former Independiente, Manchester United, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan striker will leave Brazilian club Internacional and join his new club in time for the new season which starts on March 1.
Forlan, 34, had been with the Porto Alegre club since 2012, but finances are tight at a club who have been forced to play their home games elsewhere while their stadium is rebuilt for the World Cup. He started well for Inter and was the top goalscorer in last season’s Guacho championship; but the inexperienced side struggled in the Brazilian league and dismissed their coach Dunga. They also sold Forlan’s Brazilian international strike partner Leandro Damiao to Santos for R$41 million (Dh63.4m).
It is a coup for Cerezo to sign the twice European golden boot winner who was also the joint top goalscorer in the last World Cup finals, where he won the Golden Ball for being the tournament’s best player.
Forlan won wide praise in Japan for his performance in a friendly there in August, scoring twice in a 4-2 win against the fellow World Cup finalists. His strike partner Luis Suarez was at the heart of both goals.
Forlan was happy at Inter and living in Brazil ahead of the World Cup finals, but speculation began to mount about his departure in recent weeks, with offers from North America and Europe. Brazilian side Botafogo were understood to be keen to sign him to spearhead their Copa Libertadores campaign. Their player manager Clarence Seedorf left them for coach AC Milan last week, freeing up space in their budget. But much as Forlan would like to play in the Libertadores, his club were understood to be reluctant to sell him to a domestic rival – just as Forlan did not want to leave Inter and play for a domestic rival.
“I was happy at Inter and had a great relationship with everyone, but the one offer which stood out for me was from Japan,” Forlan said as he signed the forms to complete the negotiations at his home in Porto Alegre on Tuesday. “I’ve played in Japan three or four times and always enjoyed the atmosphere in the stadiums, what culture I’ve seen and the people have always been very friendly. I’m really looking forward to joining Cerezo and doing my best for my new team.”
Forlan has no fears about the J League hampering his chances of being in the Uruguay squad for the World Cup finals.
“It’s not the Premier League or La Liga, but the standard of football is high, improving and the league is very competitive,” Forlan said. “I saw Cerezo draw with Manchester United pre-season and they were praised for playing so well. I’m also in really good condition and want to play for as long as possible. Cerezo are a well established club with huge support in from a big city. I’m really excited about the move.”
Cerezo, who count Shinji Kagawa among their former players, finished fourth in the 2013 J League, four points behind champions Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Just nine points separated the top eight clubs, with Cerezo one of four teams to qualify for the 2014 AFC Champions League alongside UAE sides Al Ain, Al Ahli, Al Jazira and Baniyas. The winner of this will play in the 2014 Fifa Club World Cup.
Forlan will be the highest profile player in the 20-year-old J League, whose new season starts on March 1, but breaks from May 17 to July 19 to help players prepare for the World Cup finals. Cerezo’s Japanese internationals Yoichiro Kakitani and Hotaru Yamaguchi will appreciate the break – as will Forlan.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE
THE%20SWIMMERS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESally%20El-Hosaini%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENathalie%20Issa%2C%20Manal%20Issa%2C%20Ahmed%20Malek%20and%20Ali%20Suliman%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Polarised public
31% in UK say BBC is biased to left-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is biased to right-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is not biased at all
Source: YouGov
The%20specs%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDual%20permanently%20excited%20synchronous%20motors%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E516hp%20or%20400Kw%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E858Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle%20speed%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERange%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E485km%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh699%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs: 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio
Price, base: Dh198,300
Engine: 2.0L in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 280hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque: 400Nm @ 2,250rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7L / 100km
Background: Chemical Weapons
Men’s singles
Group A: Son Wan-ho (Kor), Lee Chong Wei (Mas), Ng Long Angus (HK), Chen Long (Chn)
Group B: Kidambi Srikanth (Ind), Shi Yugi (Chn), Chou Tien Chen (Tpe), Viktor Axelsen (Den)
Women’s Singles
Group A: Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn), Pusarla Sindhu (Ind), Sayaka Sato (Jpn), He Bingjiao (Chn)
Group B: Tai Tzu Ying (Tpe), Sung Hi-hyun (Kor), Ratchanok Intanon (Tha), Chen Yufei (Chn)
Manchester City (0) v Liverpool (3)
Uefa Champions League, quarter-final, second leg
Where: Etihad Stadium
When: Tuesday, 10.45pm
Live on beIN Sports HD
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
Royal Birkdale Golf Course
Location: Southport, Merseyside, England
Established: 1889
Type: Private
Total holes: 18
Reputation
Taylor Swift
(Big Machine Records)
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.6-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 285bhp
Torque: 353Nm
Price: TBA
On sale: Q2, 2020
Manchester United v Club America
When: Thursday, 9pm Arizona time (Friday UAE, 8am)
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
