Kate Ferdinand: Dubai is amazing but I miss my family, friends & the rain...

Rio's wife says life not all sunshine in the Emirates

- BY ROSS KANIUK

Kate is juggling her kids and life in Dubai

Homesick Kate Ferdinand admits that life in the Dubai sunshine with football pundit husband Rio and three of their children has left her yearning for rainy England.

While their youngest son Cree, five, is a gifted linguist - speaking Mandarin and Arabic - she is struggling and has set herself a target of learning one Arabic word a week.

Choking back tears, Kate, who moved from Bromley, South East London, last August, says: "I just miss my family and friends."

Ex-England star Rio, 47, stepped down as a pundit for TNT Sports, covering the Champions League across Europe last year but still has a YouTube channel and clothing line.

Kate - who married Rio in 2019, following his first wife Rebecca's death from breast cancer in 2015, aged 34 - says of their new life in Dubai: "I feel like we've opened our eyes to a different world. But I love London and I love the UK. I love so many things about the UK.