Edin Dzeko, Manchester City's new £27 million signing from Wolfsburg. Alex Livesey / Getty Images
Edin Dzeko, Manchester City's new £27 million signing from Wolfsburg. Alex Livesey / Getty Images
Edin Dzeko, Manchester City's new £27 million signing from Wolfsburg. Alex Livesey / Getty Images
Edin Dzeko, Manchester City's new £27 million signing from Wolfsburg. Alex Livesey / Getty Images

Edin Dzeko aiming to please at Manchester City


Richard Jolly
  • English
  • Arabic

If the aim of every striker is to be a crowd pleaser, Edin Dzeko has made a fine start to life at Manchester City.

The £27 million (Dh154m) forward hopes to debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday but, even before he scores his first goal, he should have endeared himself to the regulars at Eastlands.

A declaration that Manchester contains more City fans than United followers is music to the ears of the Blues, while the Bosnian was quick to express his admiration for the long-suffering supporters.

Robinho, City's last No 10, cut a disaffected figure, with one eye permanently on the exit door. In contrast, Dzeko has been quick to immerse himself in the culture of his new club.

"I watched Blue Moon [Rising], he said. "I watched the film and I have to say it was a very emotional. I saw people living for the club. It is fantastic how people love the club despite them not winning a trophy in the last 34 years.

"It is amazing. They are very loyal to the club. I want to make people happy. I helped Wolfsburg win the first Bundesliga title in their history and I'd like to make history here."

Next month's Manchester derby is a date that is already etched into his diary. "A lot of people told me that mostly fans from Manchester are fans of Manchester City and from the other cities, more for Manchester United," he said.

Although Dzeko's height should offer City another dimension, his hero was the shorter, sleeker Andriy Shevchenko. As AC Milan were among his many suitors, it prompted speculation he would be headed for the San Siro.

The 24-year-old added: "Because I was a big fan of AC Milan and Andriy Shevchenko when I was younger, people thought that meant I wanted to join them but City was my first choice."

The transfer brought to an end a six-month pursuit of a player who scored 66 goals in 111 league games for Wolfsburg. Now, besides easing the reliance on Carlos Tevez, Roberto Mancini believes that it gives him a strike force to rival any in Europe.

"I think so, because of the quality and the goals our strikers can score," he said.

Frustrated by some of City's struggles to break opponents down, the Italian believes he can now adopt a policy of all-out attack.

"I think Carlos, Mario [Balotelli], David Silva and Edin can all play together in the same team," he added. "Like in games when we played Birmingham and Blackburn, when we spend almost 90 minutes in their box and don't score. With Edin, we maybe will have more chances to score from crosses. I think Edin can make the difference in big games."

The timing of Dzeko's arrival is important, however, with Balotelli's knee injury requiring three weeks of rest.

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It's up to you to go green

Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.

“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”

When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.

He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.

“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.

One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.  

The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.

Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.

But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”

Hamilton’s 2017

Australia - 2nd; China - 1st; Bahrain - 2nd; Russia - 4th; Spain - 1st; Monaco - 7th; Canada - 1st; Azerbaijan - 5th; Austria - 4th; Britain - 1st; Hungary - 4th; Belgium - 1st; Italy - 1st; Singapore - 1st; Malaysia - 2nd; Japan - 1st; United States - 1st; Mexico - 9th

Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin

Libya's Gold

UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves. 

The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.

Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.

EGYPT SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Ahmed El Shennawy, Mohamed El Shennawy, Mohamed Abou-Gabal, Mahmoud Abdel Rehem "Genesh"
Defenders: Ahmed Elmohamady, Ahmed Hegazi, Omar Gaber, Ali Gazal, Ayman Ahsraf, Mahmoud Hamdy, Baher Elmohamady, Ahmed Ayman Mansour, Mahmoud Alaa, Ahmed Abou-Elfotouh
Midfielders: Walid Soliman, Abdallah El Said, Mohamed Elneny, Tarek Hamed, Mahmoud “Trezeguet” Hassan, Amr Warda, Nabil Emad
Forwards: Ahmed Ali, Mohamed Salah, Marwan Mohsen, Ahmed "Kouka" Hassan.

While you're here
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The finalists

Player of the Century, 2001-2020: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Ronaldinho

Coach of the Century, 2001-2020: Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Jose Mourinho (Tottenham Hotspur), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid), Sir Alex Ferguson

Club of the Century, 2001-2020: Al Ahly (Egypt), Bayern Munich (Germany), Barcelona (Spain), Real Madrid (Spain)

Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

Club of the Year: Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Real Madrid

Coach of the Year: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta), Hans-Dieter Flick (Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)

Agent of the Century, 2001-2020: Giovanni Branchini, Jorge Mendes, Mino Raiola

HIJRA

Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy

Director: Shahad Ameen

Rating: 3/5

French Touch

Carla Bruni

(Verve)

The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Transmission: seven-speed auto

Power: 420 bhp

Torque: 624Nm

Price: from Dh293,200

On sale: now

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Power: 268bhp / 536bhp
Torque: 343Nm / 686Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
On sale: Later this year
1971: The Year The Music Changed Everything

Director: Asif Kapadia

4/5

The BIO:

He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal

He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side

By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam

Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border

He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push

His new goal is to climb 14 peaks that are more than 8,000 metres above sea level