Adam Lallana has signed two contracts this summer. It is a sign of the esteem in which he is held at Liverpool that they extended his deal by a month, at some cost to themselves, to ensure that one of Anfield’s first bona fide Jurgen Klopp players remained at the club for their title celebrations.
The second, a three-year deal with Brighton & Hove Albion, is longer and may contain more footballing significance. Ambition has been evident in Sussex this season, but everything was predicated on Brighton staying in the Premier League.
They underwent a footballing revolution, from having the 17th highest share of possession in 2018-19 to the seventh, but relegation would have undermined a regime who rejected pragmatism and prosaicness.
Instead, a transformation continues with the recruitment of Lallana. His previous move cost Liverpool £25 million (Dh118m) even if two of the most influential managers of the current generation, in Mauricio Pochettino and Klopp, drew more from him than Brendan Rodgers, who authorised that fee.
His list of admirers amounts to a who’s who of people at the forefront of progressive thinking, the men who look to combine pressing with passing.
The former FA technical director Dan Ashworth has assumed the same role at Albion; Lallana was named England’s player of the year in 2016 and, had he been fully fit, would have probably assumed a key role in Gareth Southgate’s plans for the 2018 World Cup.
Graham Potter has acquired a purists’ player. Tellingly, the Brighton manager talked of Lallana’s “technical quality”. “A really exciting signing,” he said. “A perfect match,” added Lallana. This could be a meeting of minds.
In his profile and his wages, if not his transfer fee, he represents one of Brighton’s biggest signings. He also marks a change of policy. Albion have generally looked to the Dutch and Belgian leagues in search of invention, but they have had negligible returns from Alireza Jakanbakhsh, Jurgen Locadia and Jose Izquierdo. Attempts to find value in cheaper markets have backfired. A clearout of record buys may begin.
A creative contingent of Lallana, Pascal Gross, Aaron Mooy, Leandro Trossard and Alexis Mac Allister promises a better supply line to Neal Maupay and Aaron Connolly and Brighton most require improvement and incision in the final third.
Despite their transformation into a ball-playing team, they only scored 39 goals this season. Over three Premier League campaigns, they average under a goal a game.
In one respect, a player with a solitary strike in three years may seem an illogical addition in a bid to make a team more prolific. The concern is whether Lallana is the player of old. His major honours have come in the last 14 months but he peaked between 2012 and 2017.
He was one of the most important individuals in Klopp’s first 19 months at the helm, a catalyst who took them into two finals and the Champions League, but, because of injuries and upgrades, a bit-part player thereafter.
His last three years could be remembered for the autumn equaliser at Old Trafford that extended Liverpool’s unbeaten start or the rusty performance as a substitute when Mohamed Salah was injured in the 2018 Champions League final.
He has only started nine of Liverpool’s last 114 league games and, while Klopp is such a fan he tried to convert Lallana into a No 6 to give him a second opportunity to get into the team, that experiment was quietly abandoned.
The presumption is that Brighton will use Lallana further forward. His versatility in attacking areas will allow a flexible manager to shift shape at will.
Potter, Lallana said, has “changed the dynamics” at Albion. Now his own arrival with accelerate the change.
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Sui Dhaaga: Made in India
Director: Sharat Katariya
Starring: Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Raghubir Yadav
3.5/5
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
High profile Al Shabab attacks
- 2010: A restaurant attack in Kampala Uganda kills 74 people watching a Fifa World Cup final football match.
- 2013: The Westgate shopping mall attack, 62 civilians, five Kenyan soldiers and four gunmen are killed.
- 2014: A series of bombings and shootings across Kenya sees scores of civilians killed.
- 2015: Four gunmen attack Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya and take over 700 students hostage, killing those who identified as Christian; 148 die and 79 more are injured.
- 2016: An attack on a Kenyan military base in El Adde Somalia kills 180 soldiers.
- 2017: A suicide truck bombing outside the Safari Hotel in Mogadishu kills 587 people and destroys several city blocks, making it the deadliest attack by the group and the worst in Somalia’s history.
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UAE v Zimbabwe A, 50 over series
Fixtures
Thursday, Nov 9 - 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
Saturday, Nov 11 – 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
Monday, Nov 13 – 2pm, Dubai International Stadium
Thursday, Nov 16 – 2pm, ICC Academy, Dubai
Saturday, Nov 18 – 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners
Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Best Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta)
Best Referee: Gianluca Rocchi
Best Goal: Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria vs Napoli)
Best Team: Atalanta
Best XI: Samir Handanovic (Inter); Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Joao Cancelo (Juventus*); Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Josip Ilicic (Atalanta), Nicolo Barella (Cagliari*); Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Duvan Zapata (Atalanta)
Serie B Best Young Player: Sandro Tonali (Brescia)
Best Women’s Goal: Thaisa (Milan vs Juventus)
Best Women’s Player: Manuela Giugliano (Milan)
Best Women’s XI: Laura Giuliani (Milan); Alia Guagni (Fiorentina), Sara Gama (Juventus), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus), Elisa Bartoli (Roma); Aurora Galli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus); Valentina Giacinti (Milan), Ilaria Mauro (Fiorentina), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus)
The five stages of early child’s play
From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:
1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.
2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.
3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.
4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.
5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.
