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DROGHEDA UNITED have signed defender George Cooper on a season-long loan from Mansfield Town.

Cooper, 22, has made just two league appearances for the Stags but also played 52 times in National League North during two loan spells for Kettering Town.

He had joined Kiddersminster Harriers on loan in September but that was cut short by a shoulder injury.

Drogheda boss Kevin Doherty said: “George is an excellent player and meets the profile of what we look for in our defenders.

“He is a big, mobile, strong and athletic defender, and from his first session with us we can see he is vocal and commanding in defence.

“I’ve watched George for a long time and he has really impressed me every time I have seen him. 

“He really wanted to join and he has a hunger to play and that’s what we were looking for. I’m delighted to get him in.”

Elsewhere, Bohemians boss Alan Reynolds has hailed the quality of loan signing Kian Best.

Best, 19, has joined Bohs until the summer, when his Preston North End contract ends.

The left-back made 12 Championship appearances and won five England under-19 caps, scoring on his debut against Romania, last season.

He featured in their opening game of this campaign too but, after Ryan Lowe stepped down after that game, his only games under his successor Paul Heckingbottom came in the Carabao Cup.

But Reynolds believes he will prove a valuable addition. He said: “I am delighted to get Kian on board.

“He comes with a really good pedigree having played a significant number of games at a very high level in the English Championship with Preston.

“He is exactly the kind of quality that will strengthen our squad. He is a really exciting talent, he’s young and is clearly hungry to push on.

“He respects the league, is delighted to join the club and has made a brave decision to move away from home to push himself forward. 

“Left-back is a position we wanted to strengthen. We have taken our time to find the right fit, as we are with other positions.

“But we want to get the right players for the right positions and I feel we have done that with Kian, who is a really stylish left-back that we are really looking forward to working with.”

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BACK in the 1990s, you could hardly open a glossy mag without seeing tennis star Anna Kournikova’s athletic figure sprawled over the pages.

Despite never reaching a final of a grand slam singles tournament, the Russian was in such demand she was the highest-earning female player in 2000.

Getty

BackGrid

Anna was spotted at Bal Harbour in Miami being pushed along in a wheelchair by family and friends, with her right foot clad in an orthopaedic boot[/caption]

https://www.instagram.com/annakournikova/

Anna and kids celebrate partner Enrique Iglesias’ birthday[/caption]

One of her endorsements that year saw her in a sports bra on billboards next to the line “only the ball should bounce”.

But since quitting the game in 2003, aged just 21, due to back problems, she has become something of a recluse, living behind 16ft walls at the beach-front mansion in Miami she shares with her pop star partner Enrique Iglesias and their three children.

So it came as a shock to fans this week, to see Anna photographed in public for the first time in nearly three years.

And it seems the 43-year-old has not shaken off the injuries that prevented her career on court reaching its full potential.

Anna was spotted at Bal Harbour in Miami being pushed along in a wheelchair by family and friends, with her right foot clad in an orthopaedic boot.

‘I love being a mum’

Smiling by her side were her two daughters, Lucy, seven, and five-year-old Mary.

The image provided a brief window into the happiness that motherhood has brought the star, who also has Lucy’s twin brother Nicholas, since she turned her back on fame.

It is a world away from her years as a teenage sensation when she once joked that “every country I visit, I have a different boyfriend and I kiss them all”, following rumours she was seeing two Russian ice hockey stars at the same time.

I did feel pressure when people were saying things like, ‘You’re too pretty, you can’t play’, or whatever.

Anna Kournikova

At the peak of her fame, she could not go anywhere without being photographed, and could not chat to a man without being romantically linked to him.

And her reluctance to go out in public is understandable, given that a stalker once tried to get on to her property.

Talking about her previous worldwide fame, she told The Sun in 2019: “It’s really strange, it feels like it happened to me but it didn’t happen to me because it was such a long time ago.”

And she confessed that all the attention she received had made her anxious.

She said: “Being in the spotlight since I was a child was really hard.

“I did feel pressure when people were saying things like, ‘You’re too pretty, you can’t play’, or whatever.

“I would get so nervous and get anxiety on the court, I wouldn’t be able to move.”

Anna was last seen by fans when she shared a photo of her family celebrating Mother’s Day and Enrique’s 47th birthday in their back garden in May 2022.

It was becoming a mum to twins Nicholas and Lucy in December 2017 that truly sealed her move away from public view.

Having seen every part of her life pored over as a teenager, Anna did not announce their birth until a full month later.

Since then there have been the occasional images of her children posted on social media.

They include a cute video of her three children driving a toy red Range Rover around the tennis court at her house.

She said: “I love being a mum.

“I absolutely wanted to have children, whether I had my own or adopted.”

But Anna and Enrique give so little away that they have not even confirmed a rumoured marriage.

She wears a huge sparkly ring on her wedding finger and calls herself Anna Kournikova Iglesias on her Instagram page.

Enrique once referred to Anna as his wife.

I’m like a menu at an expensive restaurant — you can look at me, but you can’t afford me.

Anna Kournikova

He also said in 2022: “We haven’t gotten married in public, but that doesn’t mean we are not married.

“We have been together for such a long time, for half of our lives.”

For many, Kournikova was a poster girl for unfulfilled talent.

Doug Seeburg - The Sun

Berlei

Anna turning heads with a billboard bra advert in 2000[/caption]

She was the first of the Russian women to make it big on the tennis circuit, paving the way for stars such as Maria Sharapova.

When Anna was five, her mum Alla sold her television in order to buy he girl a tennis racket — and within five years she had secured a place at a prestigious academy in Florida.

She turned professional aged 14 and the following year reached the fourth round of the US Open, losing to eventual champion Steffi Graf.

But it was making the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 1997 aged 16 — which would be her best grand slam result in the singles game — that sent her into the sporting stratosphere.

Her 44-inch legs, blonde hair and perfect smile were a godsend for advertisers and in 2001 she earned £7million from sponsorship deals alone.

It was no surprise that FHM magazine named her the sexiest woman on the planet in 2002.

There was a slew of rumoured male admirers, including Brazilian footballer Ronaldo, who she gave a kiss to at the 1998 French Open, and Australian ­tennis star Mark Philippoussis.

She played up to her reputation as a heartbreaker by commenting: “I’m like a menu at an expensive restaurant — you can look at me, but you can’t afford me”.

The most infamous story surrounded a love triangle involving two ­Russian ice hockey stars.

Anna was said to have been in an on-off relationship with Sergei Fedorov after meeting him in 1999 when she was 17.

But his team-mate Pavel Bure also made a move in 2000, with The Sun revealing that diners had seen him propose to her with a pink rose in a Miami restaurant.

In the end, Anna chose Sergei.

A marriage certificate in Moscow appeared to show that the couple tied the knot in 2001.

Anna always denied getting married, but Sergei insisted they had been man and wife.

He said in 2003 after what he said was their divorce: “I loved her but she had her own plans.”

It was meeting Enrique, 49, the son of Spanish crooner Julio, in late 2001 when she played his girlfriend in the video for his song Escape, that changed everything.

In 2002 she announced her retirement from tennis, having struggled with a long-standing injury.

She said: “My back really forced me to stop.

“It got so bad I couldn’t tie my shoes, literally. I would be in excruciating pain.”

While Anna never reached the heights it was believed she would, she was twice the women’s doubles champion at the Australian Open.

Explicit emails

By 2004 she was also at odds with her mum Alla, who had orchestrated much of her early career.

Alla and dad Sergei launched legal action to get their daughter out of the Miami pad which they claimed to own.

The tennis star then counter-sued and a secret settlement was reached.

I’d love to appear in something like Sex And The City or Friends.

Anna Kournikova

A year later homeless man William Lepeska, who had a history of violence, was arrested at a swimming pool near her home, shouting, “Anna, save me”.

He had got the wrong house.

Lepeska, who was ordered by a court to stay away from Anna, had also sent her sexually explicit emails.

Afterwards, Anna bulked up her security, bringing in bodyguards, and her public appearances lessened.

There had been talk of her going into acting or presenting following her retirement from tennis.

She enjoyed a cameo in the 2000 Jim Carrey movie Me, Myself & Irene and said: “I’d love to appear in something like Sex And The City or Friends.”

But apart from stints as a workout coach on reality show The Biggest Loser in 2010 and 2011, Anna did not pursue the numerous opportunities offered to her.

It is clear she values privacy more than fame.

Given the last photo she posted of herself on social media was in 2021, there is little chance she is going to talk publicly about her latest injury.

But with a loving family around her, nowadays she can just block out what the world has to say about her and how she is looking.

Getty Images - Getty

At five, Anna’s mother sold their TV to buy her a tennis racket, leading to a spot at a prestigious Florida academy[/caption]

Getty - Contributor

Anna shares a Miami mansion with her pop star partner Enrique Iglesias and their three children – the couple seen here in 2010[/caption]

BRITISH telecom firm Vodafone has beaten tech billionaire Elon Musk in the mobile phone space race.

The breakthrough will make the UK the first to connect calls to standard handsets via satellites.

Reuters

Vodafone has beaten tech billionaire Elon Musk in the mobile phone space race[/caption]

It means calls can switch between space and normal mast networks automatically.

And users stuck in remote locations such as mountains or out at sea can also use the tech to connect to broadband internet to get a signal.

Unlike current satellite phones, users will not need a special dish, terminal or more expensive handset.

Vodafone boss Margherita Della Valle yesterday revealed she had made a call using the tech to an engineer in a remote mountain region of Wales “which had never had a phone signal”.

The achievement comes 40 years after the UK’s first mobile phone call — made at midnight on January 1, 1985, by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest, the founder of Vodafone.

Vodafone invested in AST SpaceMobile in 2018.

There are five satellites it works with, allowing the firm to test mobile broadband connectivity directly to existing smartphones at peak data transmission speeds.

AST SpaceMobile operates the only mobile broadband network in space that works directly with standard smartphones for multiple users.

And it means Vodafone is ahead of Musk, whose Starlink network has so far only managed text messages in tests connecting regular phones to low Earth orbit satellite constellations.

Ms Della Valle said the breakthrough would mean everyone will “be connected, no matter where they are”.

She went on: “This will help close the digital divide, supporting people to keep in touch with family and friends, or work, as well as ensuring reliable rural connectivity in an emergency.”

After further testing, the service is set to be rolled out by the end of the year before expanding into Europe.

Vodafone said the tech will be available only to its customers. It is yet to determine the pricing of packages but will “aim to make it accessible”.

A spokesman said users would have to be outdoors, rather than underground, to be able to use the service.

Tim Peake, the first British astronaut to visit the International Space Station in 2015, welcomed the move.

He said: “I can appreciate the value in being able to communicate with family and friends from remote and isolated locations.”

Normal calls and video messages work by pinging a signal from a phone to a radio on a mast.

The signal then travels via underground cables or fibre networks to the closest tower mast to the recipient, which then pings it to their phone.

The new tech will send the signal to a satellite then back to a gateway before switching to the normal network.