Juan Cuadrado only made nine appearances for Chelsea across all competitions this season. Tony O'Brien / Action Images / Reuters
Juan Cuadrado only made nine appearances for Chelsea across all competitions this season. Tony O'Brien / Action Images / Reuters
Juan Cuadrado only made nine appearances for Chelsea across all competitions this season. Tony O'Brien / Action Images / Reuters
Juan Cuadrado only made nine appearances for Chelsea across all competitions this season. Tony O'Brien / Action Images / Reuters

Juan Cuadrado irrelevant for Chelsea; Mario Balotelli an unmitigated failure for Liverpool: PL season’s worst


Richard Jolly
  • English
  • Arabic

With the 2014/15 Premier League season come and gone, Richard Jolly names his worst performer from every team this year.

Arsenal

Mikel Arteta: Francis Coquelin showed just how much Arsenal benefited from having a proper defensive midfielder. The ageing Arteta struggled on his appearances.

Aston Villa

Andreas Weimann: Started well, with early goals, but the Austrian lost his way and his place.

Burnley

Lukas Jutkiewicz: No lack of effort but the goalless striker just lacked the class for the Premier League.

Chelsea

Juan Cuadrado: The January signing wasn't the final piece in the title-winning jigsaw, but an irrelevant, expensive replacement. Much more will be expected of Colombia's World Cup star next season.

Crystal Palace

Adrian Mariappa: It says a lot that Palace didn't win a league game the versatile defender started.

Everton

Antolin Alcaraz: An increasingly hapless figure whose mistakes were a major cause of Everton's Europa League exit.

Hull City

Tom Huddlestone: A focal point of the team last season, but error-prone this year, when he was sent off twice.

Leicester City

Paul Konchesky: Leicester's best form came without him. The left-back looks past his best.

Liverpool

Mario Balotelli: Scored a solitary league goal in the worst season of his career. A £16 million failure.

Manchester City

Edin Dzeko: Only scored twice since September as the Bosnian, who struck 26 times last season, ranked as the greatest underachiever in the City ranks.

Manchester United

Radamel Falcao: Arrived with the reputation as one of the world's great strikers. Looked slow and utterly impotent in a dreadful loan spell that only yielded four goals.

Newcastle United

Emmanuel Riviere: A regular scorer in Ligue 1, he waited nine months and more than 1,000 minutes for a goal in the Premier League.

Queens Park Rangers

Mauricio Isla: The Chilean World Cup star lost his place in what proved the worst defence in the division.

Southampton

Shane Long: Hard worker but, played out of position, failed to justify his £12 million fee.

Stoke City

Phillip Wollscheid: One of the more forgettable January signings. Mark Hughes's search for a centre-back may go on.

Sunderland

Ricky Alvarez: The Argentine was anonymous, ineffective and injured. Now Sunderland are forced to pay £11 million for him.

Swansea City

Angel Rangel: Showed his age and lost his place when Kyle Naughton was signed in January.

Tottenha Hotspur

Roberto Soldado: It seemed his second season couldn't be any worse than his first. It was. Soldado scored a solitary Premier League goal. He is a waste of £26 million.

West Bromwich Albion

Cristian Gamboa: The Costa Rican was one of several summer signings who made a negligible contribution.

West Ham United

Kevin Nolan: Looked slow and old in comparison with West Ham's more dynamic midfielders.

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%3Cp%3EThe%20Punishment%20of%20Luxury%3Cbr%3EOMD%3Cbr%3E100%25%20Records%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

UAE squad

Rohan Mustafa (captain), Ashfaq Ahmed, Ghulam Shabber, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Shaiman Anwar, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Mohammed Naveed, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Trolls World Tour

Directed by: Walt Dohrn, David Smith

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake

Rating: 4 stars

The alternatives

• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.

• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.

• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.

2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.

• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases -  but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.

The bio

Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions

School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira

Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk

Dream City: San Francisco

Hometown: Dubai

City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala

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TEACHERS' PAY - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:

- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools

- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say

- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance

- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs

- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills

- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month

- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues

Company%20Profile
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Turkish Ladies

Various artists, Sony Music Turkey