List of All Articles with Tag 'al'

West Ham have announced the signing of midfielder James Ward-Prowse from Southampton. The 28-year-old made 410 appearances for Saints and was captain as they were relegated from the Premier League last season. He has made a swift return to the top flight after joining the Hammers for an undisclosed fee – reported to be in the region of £30million – signing a four-year contract at the London Stadium. Ward-Prowse told the club’s official website: “I’m buzzing to be here at West Ham United. It’s great to be here and I’m looking forward to getting going. “From the outside looking in, this is a club that has been on the rise for a number of years now and coming off the success in the UEFA Europa Conference League last year, you can feel there is real momentum around this club. It’s great to be a part of it and I can’t wait to play my role in the games to come. “When I think about my game, it is based on hard work, graft, and giving 100 per cent. West Ham United has always been a club that epitomises that. You can feel that from the fans and you can see it in the players who are here and the lads that have come through the academy too. “I feel as though I will fit straight in and I can promise I will give my all for this football club in my time here.” Ward-Prowse spent two decades on the south coast having joined Southampton’s academy at the age of eight. During his time at St Mary’s, he earned 11 senior England caps and scored two goals for his country. Ward-Prowse scored 17 Premier League free-kicks for Southampton and needs just one more to draw level with the record, held by David Beckham. He becomes West Ham’s second major signing of the summer following the recent acquisition of fellow midfielder Edson Alvarez from Ajax. Manchester United defender Harry Maguire could be the next player in at West Ham as manager David Moyes looks to improve a team that finished 14th last season but went on to lift the Europa Conference League. They opened their season with a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Saturday and lost former captain Declan Rice to Arsenal for £105million in July.

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Whether world leaders should engage with the Taliban government is complicated, writes Lyse Doucet.

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A grandfather is addicted to Lucozade despite having three heart attacks, and said it's harder to give up than class-A drugs. Garry Johnson, 65, began drinking coffee aged 12 and loved the caffeine buzz. The now-retired painter and decorator took cocaine and amphetamines in his teens, and after 15 years of on-off drug use went “cold turkey” when his son Sam was born in 1992. Keen to stay energised, he took up drinking 380ml bottle bottles of Lucozade Original, and now gets through eight a day. He's had the habit for 29 YEARS and it currently costs him around £150 a month. And at today's prices, his nearly three decade habit would have cost him more than £42,800. He had three heart attacks between 2012 and 2014 because of a hereditary heart condition, and doctors encouraged him to ditch caffeinated drinks. He gave up dairy and every other form of caffeine - but he still necks more than three litres of Lucozade a day. He said Lucozade is proving harder to give up than class-A drugs - because of the "after effect - like that lovely feeling in your mouth after you eat an expensive bit of chocolate." Garry, from Basildon, Essex, said: "I took cocaine every day but it was a piece of cake to give up - but I'd find it really hard to ever give up Lucozade. "I love it - not just the taste but the affect on my body makes me feel great. If I do go two or three hours without one, I fancy one... God knows how I'd be after two days.” He stopped using cocaine aged 30, when his son Sam, now 31, was born and went cold turkey because being a new dad was "stimulant enough". He started drinking Red Bull but found himself with migraines, and eventually moved onto Lucozade. He initially drank six a day, but has had eight a day for the last seven years. Now he goes to Tesco every day and buys one or two four-packs - depending how many bottles he already has stacked up in the fridge ready to drink. "I've always needed some kind of stimulant and eventually I realised Lucozade is perfect for me," he said. "After my heart attacks they told me to quit the energy drinks but I recently had new heart tests and my results are better than they've ever been. "I guess I've just found one that suits my body." But Garry said he doesn't even want to give up because it's a "part of his identity" - like a person's favourite shirt or their daily breakfast. He justifies the cost because he doesn't drink alcohol or smoke. He said: "£5 a day - that's less than a pint of beer today in some places." If you or someone you know is suffering from alcohol addiction, you can confidentially call the national alcohol helpline Drinkline on 0300 123 1110 or visit the NHS website here for information about the programmes available to you. If you or someone you know is suffering from drug addiction, you can seek confidential help and support 24-7 from Frank, by calling 0300 123 6600, texting 82111, sending an email or visiting their website here. SWNS Read More What I gained (and lost) by walking 10,000 steps each day for 5 months Husband ‘ruins’ dinner because of his wife’s typo: ‘The worst kind of control freak’ John Whaite says he ‘spent time apart’ from fiancé after ‘falling in love’ with Strictly pro

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The disconsolate trudge is becoming a disconcertingly familiar sight. Kevin De Bruyne has limped out of grander games than the curtain raiser to a Premier League. He has made an early exit from bigger occasions this summer. His Champions League final, like his evening in Burnley, came to a premature conclusion. A focus on De Bruyne’s body can concentrate on the remarkable right foot he uses to unlock defences, to pass and cross with an ability most can only envy. It may switch to his increasingly fragile hamstrings. For De Bruyne, Inter Milan may be bracketed alongside Burnley in the memory. His last two starts, two months apart, ended with him hamstrung. “He was injured again, unfortunately. A problem in the same position, he said to me as in the final of the Champions League,” rued Pep Guardiola. “It depends on the magnitude of the injury but it will be a few weeks out.” There will be no De Bruyne against Sevilla in the European Super Cup or against Newcastle in the first major test of Manchester City’s defence of their Premier League title. He could sit out the start of their Champions League campaign. A summer sandwiched by injuries suggests De Bruyne was rushed back. He had said after the Community Shield he was way ahead of schedule; he had targeted the Super Cup for his comeback. “It’s a pity because he had recovered well,” Guardiola said. “Maybe it was my mistake [to pick him] but if he is injured after 15-20 minutes it is not something wrong, when it is 65 or 70 it is the fatigue of the muscle. We have to talk with the doctors and him.” His plan, he had said, was to give the Belgian 50 or 55 minutes, rather than the cameo he had at Wembley. Which, as that culminated in the penalty he slammed against the underside of the bar in the shootout, has completed an ill-fated start to the season. “He is disappointed but he is strong and will be back,” added Guardiola. Yet for how long? De Bruyne may be increasingly injury prone. For a player who has never looked like a natural athlete, a red-faced figure who can seem a throwback to earlier eras, he has shown great durability. He has won 99 caps for Belgium – he would have brought up a century in the summer but for injury – and this was the 587th game of his club career. His 32nd birthday only came in June but to play almost 700 matches by that stage means he has plenty of miles on the clock. Or miles on the hamstring. He revealed after the Champions League final he had played for two months with the risk it could snap. By the time he is fit again, he will have spent the vast majority of six months with a hamstring problem of some description. It has prompted fears it will be a constant for the rest of his career. A reunion with City’s other talismanic Belgian could illustrate it. Vincent Kompany, a colleague for club and country, still made huge contributions in the latter years of his time at the Etihad Stadium but did not make 30 appearances in any of the last four campaigns. He played his final game at 33. De Bruyne should show greater longevity but his appearances will have to be rationed. All of which could create a problem, even in a squad as gifted as City’s. De Bruyne is a unique talent – “what a player he is,” gushed Kompany – and, as his total of 29 assists last season shows, reaches extraordinary levels of creativity. He is Erling Haaland’s supplier-in-chief and the shifting dynamics in the City squad has rendered his qualities perhaps still more significant. The departures of Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan have stripped them of two of the likeliest providers of goals and assists amid the band of attacking midfielders and wingers. Mateo Kovacic won’t deliver as many as the German; should Lucas Paqueta arrive, another able technician won’t replicate Mahrez’s contribution in the final third. De Bruyne is irreplaceable in various respects: no one is a like-for-like alternative and, as he ventures further into his thirties, City will have to ponder the question of who his long-term successor is. In the short term, they can console themselves with memories of Phil Foden’s impact when he came on for De Bruyne in the Champions League final and that, when he was sidelined for much of the 2018-19 campaign, they did a domestic treble. But now each injury comes with the sense that it will not be the last, but that De Bruyne is nearer the end. A man who has illuminated many a game may miss more and more. Read More Kevin De Bruyne faces ‘a few weeks out’ after suffering another hamstring injury Pep Guardiola reveals extent of Kevin De Bruyne’s hamstring injury Erling Haaland at the double as Manchester City kick off new campaign in style