Big ROM, buoyant Rome. Even for a footballer who has travelled so widely, been through various unveiling ceremonies – twice over at some of his past clubs – and commanded almost €340 million worth of combined transfer fees in his career, the reception given to Romelu Lukaku as he arrived in the capital of Italy struck him as exceptional.
There were thousands of fans at Ciampino airport ready to greet the Belgian’s flight from London, where Chelsea, who bought Lukaku for €113 million in 2021, have agreed a year-long loan with Roma. The Italian club’s owner, Dan Friedkin, a qualified pilot, had taken the aircraft’s controls during the journey.
Happily he made a steadier landing than some of the Roma supporters who had climbed on top of parked cars at Ciampino to get a better glimpse of the arriving superstar. Windscreens were broken as the fans descended from vehicle roofs.
More of this fervour will be concentrated into the Stadio Olimpico on Friday, when, ahead of kick-off of Roma’s Serie A fixture against AC Milan, Lukaku is officially presented to romanisti. “The welcome has made me really excited and motivated,” he said on arrival in the capital.
He will doubtless gesture towards the club badge, depicting the emblematic image of the supposed founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus and the she-wolf who, according to myth, helped nurture them. Romulus, Remus, Romelu: There are several ways in which Roma’s signing of Lukaku makes sense.
For the player it distances him, at least for the season-long term of the loan, from Chelsea, where his second spell – he was also a teenage recruit at Stamford Bridge 12 years ago – turned out to be an unhappy stay.
He lost the backing of Thomas Tuchel, the manager who oversaw his arrival, and, four different head coaches later, Mauricio Pochettino took over this summer knowing an exit was being pursued by the player and the club hierarchy. Lukaku spent last season on loan at Inter Milan, from whom Chelsea had bought him for that huge fee.
If last season, hampered by injury and behind Edin Dzeko in the pecking order when it came to Inter’s starting XI for the Champions League final – Lukaku was used off the bench – was less successful than his previous two as a full Inter property, his enthusiasm for Italy still trumped any appetite for remaining in the Premier League with Chelsea.
At Roma, Lukaku is also reunited with a manager, in Jose Mourinho, who he knows as well as any. They go back to Lukaku’s first spell at Chelsea, where the then 20-year-old striker, fresh from an impressive loan at West Bromwich Albion was hopeful Mourinho’s second stint at Stamford Bridge would ease him up the career ladder. It was not so simple.
Mourinho gave Lukaku one big-stage moment, off the bench in a Uefa Super Cup final against Bayern Munich; in the deciding penalty shoot-out, Lukaku was assigned the spot-kick to take the tie-breaker into sudden death. Manuel Neuer saved it and within two days Lukaku was on his way to Everton on loan.
But that would merely be a pause in the Mou-and-Romelu story. His impressive leading of the line at Everton, who he later joined permanently, identified Lukaku as the sort of centre-forward Mourinho wanted to give impetus to Manchester United after Mourinho had been at United for a season.
Lukaku moved from Goodison Park to Old Trafford for €85 million in 2017 and scored 33 times in 76 matches under the Portuguese. After Mourinho was sacked a season and a half later, Lukaku remained in Manchester until joining Inter the following summer.
In talks last week, Mourinho was persuasive about Roma, just as he had been 12 months ago in luring Paulo Dybala, the Argentinian playmaker who left Juventus for a club not in the Champions League. But Roma have reached the finals of lesser Uefa competitions in the last two seasons. Lukaku, Mourinho believes, has the pedigree and the experience to lift them to a genuine challenge for the Italian title and certainly into Serie A’s top four.
Besides, with Tammy Abraham, the club’s first-choice centre-forward over the last two seasons, in long-term recuperation from a cruciate ligament injury, Roma need fresh firepower. They have it two-fold, with Lukaku following Sardar Azmoun, the striker who made global headlines last year for allying himself to anti-government protests in his native Iran. Azmoun has joined on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, though neither he or Lukaku are deemed match-fit enough to start this evening’s game.
Milan, for their part, were on Thursday still looking to increase their options up front, trying to iron out details around Azmoun’s Iran international colleague Mehdi Taremi’s proposed move from Porto. The clubs were negotiating a fee of around €15 million for the centre-forward.
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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
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
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In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
Difference between fractional ownership and timeshare
Although similar in its appearance, the concept of a fractional title deed is unlike that of a timeshare, which usually involves multiple investors buying “time” in a property whereby the owner has the right to occupation for a specified period of time in any year, as opposed to the actual real estate, said John Peacock, Head of Indirect Tax and Conveyancing, BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates, a law firm.
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'The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey'
Rating: 3/5
Directors: Ramin Bahrani, Debbie Allen, Hanelle Culpepper, Guillermo Navarro
Writers: Walter Mosley
Stars: Samuel L Jackson, Dominique Fishback, Walton Goggins
