In a relatively quiet transfer market during the summer, only four clubs in Europe committed more than ?70 million (Dh329m) on new recruits. Guess who?
Manchester City, naturally, were one of them. Real Madrid and Barcelona, typically, were two of the others. And finally, in a break from what they regard as a tradition or carefulness, even frugality, in their contract dealings, it was Juventus, the 27-time Italian champions, who joined that more obviously ostentatious trio.
Or at least Juve will do as soon as one or two of their loan deals - those with an option to buy - come to fruition at the end of the season: players such as Alberto Aquilani, whose move from Liverpool will be worth ?16m if he impresses enough by June; Pepe, whose ?2.6m fee for the first nine months will become just over ?10m; Fabio Quagliarella, ?4.5m rising to ?15m, and Marco Motta, ?1.2m to ?4.9m.
Add to those the permanent deals to bring in Leonardo Bonucci from Bari for ?15.5m; Milos Krasic from CSKA Moscow for ?15m; Jorge Martinez from Catania for ?12m and the ?4.5m paid for Marco Storari, the former Sampdoria goalkeeper, and Juve finished up at deadline day last month as, comfortably, Serie A's biggest spenders.
Since the last cheques were written, the Old Lady has been matching the big numbers with big scorelines, too: 10 goals in their last three matches, but, alas, maximum points only from the last, Sunday's 4-0 win away at Udinese.
The tale of brand new Juve so far is of a team straining to hit the ground running and glancing too infrequently in the rear-view mirror. Ahead of the trip to Udinese they had compiled successive 3-3 draws, against Sampdoria in Serie A and against Poland's Lech Poznan in the Europa League.
This is all a little more hectic than Gigi Del Neri, the head coach, ideally envisaged. But he, too, is finding his feet in the job. His superiors, Beppe Marotta, the director general, and Fabio Paratici, the sporting director - like Del Neri, formerly of Sampdoria - have likewise completed only their first summer in charge of hiring and firing.
"We still have a few problems to get through," Del Neri told reporters ahead of tonight's league meeting with Palermo, "but the win against Udinese was a step in the right direction."
It was also the fixture that permitted Marotta to reflect with some pride on his work so far. He is the man in charge of transfers, of finding new homes for long-term servants of the club like David Trezeguet, Mauro Camoranesi and Jonathan Zebina and in turn ensuring their younger replacements would quickly prove satisfactory.
He was beaming after the rout of Udinese, not only at the display of Quagliarella, whose dainty touch at the near post provided the second goal - his second in Serie A for his new club - but of the energy and guile of Krasic, the Serbian winger.
"I'm not sure if any new signing anywhere has made the impact he has," Marotta said.
Certainly, there is an eagerness to see Krasic as a player in a distinct Juve mould: industrious, clever, appreciated by colleagues. And, as nobody fails to point out, blond.
When he arrived last month, Krasic was soon steered by journalists into comparing himself to Pavel Nedved, the Czech midfielder with the blond mane of hair who, while with Juve, won the Ballon D'Or in 2003.
"I hope I can do some of what Nedved did here," Krasic said. Though he prefers to operate on the right of midfield - Nedved preferred the left - there are enough points of similarity at least to send the local press into flights of whimsy.
"In the history of Juventus, blond is the colour of hard running and generosity," beamed the Gazzetta dello Sport. Krasic has some big expectations to meet.
@Email:sports@thenational.ae
10.45pm, Aljazeera Sport +1
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Specs%3A%202024%20McLaren%20Artura%20Spider
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Company profile
Company: Eighty6
Date started: October 2021
Founders: Abdul Kader Saadi and Anwar Nusseibeh
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Hospitality
Size: 25 employees
Funding stage: Pre-series A
Investment: $1 million
Investors: Seed funding, angel investors
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Specs
Engine: 2-litre
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 255hp
Torque: 273Nm
Price: Dh240,000
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By Ben Okri (Head of Zeus)
The struggle is on for active managers
David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.
The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.
Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.
Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.
Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.
At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
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Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5
ILT20%20UAE%20stars
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Fifa Club World Cup quarter-final
Esperance de Tunis 0
Al Ain 3 (Ahmed 02’, El Shahat 17’, Al Ahbabi 60’)
MIDWAY
Produced: Lionsgate Films, Shanghai Ryui Entertainment, Street Light Entertainment
Directed: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Ed Skrein, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Aaron Eckhart, Luke Evans, Nick Jonas, Mandy Moore, Darren Criss
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
The specs
Engine: 2.2-litre, turbodiesel
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Power: 160hp
Torque: 385Nm
Price: Dh116,900
On sale: now