Timo Werner's move back to the Premier League on loan with Tottenham Hotspur offers a road to redemption with the once-vaunted striker's career at a crossroads.
Werner, 27, signed from RB Leipzig until the end of the season on Monday. The six-month deal includes an option to make the transfer permanent in the summer.
Much of that will depend on how well Werner adapts to life back in England. His last spell, at Chelsea, included a Champions League winner's medal, but few at Stamford Bridge would consider Werner's two-year stay from 2020 to 2022 a roaring success.
Tottenham will hope the Werner they signed mirrors the one that terrorised them over two legs in the 2019/20 Champions League. The dynamic forward scored the only goal in the away leg and tormented Serge Aurier so much at Leipzig's Red Bull Arena that Jose Mourinho replaced him with an untested 17-year-old Malachi Fagan-Walcott.
“I’m very happy to be here – I think I joined a very, very big club,” Werner told Tottenham’s website. "I spoke with the [Spurs] manager [Ange Postecoglou] and it was a really good talk.
"He gave me straight away the feeling what I need to join a club and what I want to feel when you talk to a manager.
"Also, that tactics and style, how he wants to play. For me, I thought straight away that it fits perfectly. I hope I can be the best player I can be here.”
Germany can ill afford a poor tournament, particularly on home soil. A disastrous 2022 World Cup saw the four-time champions dumped out at the group stage for a second successive time and patience with Nagelsmann is already wearing thin.
Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann has struggled for results since taking charge of the national team. Getty
Werner could go some way to helping his former club coach. In June 2016, Nagelsmann convinced Leipzig's Red Bull owners to part with a then club record €10 million to sign the 20-year-old Werner from Bundesliga rivals Stuttgart. Nagelsmann, less than a decade older than Werner, helped nurture a talent that relied on blistering pace to get behind opposition defences from a wide left position to devastating effect.
Leipzig prospered. Werner would earn a big-money move to Chelsea while Nagelsmann would succeed Flick at perennial German champions Bayern Munich.
The moves were met with mixed success. Werner collected a Champions League medal with Chelsea in 2021, starting the final in Porto against Manchester City. It was another German international, Kai Havertz, who emerged as the hero though, scoring the only goal of the game. He was sold back to Leipzig in 2022 for £25 million, a full £28 million less than what they paid for him two years previous. Nagelsmann, meanwhile, lasted less than a year at Bayern despite guiding the Bavarians to their now customary Bundesliga shield in his first season.
Werner has started only four matches this season, scoring twice in 14 appearances across competitions. He missed Saturday's friendly with St Gallen because transfer talks were taking place with Tottenham.
His move is subject to international clearance but Werner could be available when Spurs play at Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday.
Tottenham are fifth in the Premier League, six points behind leaders Liverpool.
Pakistan 418-5 (declared)
New Zealand 90 and 131-2 (follow on)
Day 3: New Zealand trail by 197 runs with 8 wickets remaining
School counsellors on mental well-being
Schools counsellors in Abu Dhabi have put a number of provisions in place to help support pupils returning to the classroom next week.
Many children will resume in-person lessons for the first time in 10 months and parents previously raised concerns about the long-term effects of distance learning.
Schools leaders and counsellors said extra support will be offered to anyone that needs it. Additionally, heads of years will be on hand to offer advice or coping mechanisms to ease any concerns.
“Anxiety this time round has really spiralled, more so than from the first lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic,” said Priya Mitchell, counsellor at The British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi.
“Some have got used to being at home don’t want to go back, while others are desperate to get back.
“We have seen an increase in depressive symptoms, especially with older pupils, and self-harm is starting younger.
“It is worrying and has taught us how important it is that we prioritise mental well-being.”
Ms Mitchell said she was liaising more with heads of year so they can support and offer advice to pupils if the demand is there.
The school will also carry out mental well-being checks so they can pick up on any behavioural patterns and put interventions in place to help pupils.
At Raha International School, the well-being team has provided parents with assessment surveys to see how they can support students at home to transition back to school.
“They have created a Well-being Resource Bank that parents have access to on information on various domains of mental health for students and families,” a team member said.
“Our pastoral team have been working with students to help ease the transition and reduce anxiety that [pupils] may experience after some have been nearly a year off campus.
"Special secondary tutorial classes have also focused on preparing students for their return; going over new guidelines, expectations and daily schedules.”
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.
