Angry Mourinho speaks his mind

Jose Mourinho is undoubtedly a master of mind games. At Chelsea, he preached trench mentality - making out that the whole football world was against the club - which galvanised his team's sense of togetherness, evidenced by two Premier League titles. The Portuguese manager contined that policy in his two seasons at Inter Milan, often berating the press - or refusing to speak to them - while verbally attacking his fellow managers.

Now it seems he is taking a different approach. Unimpressed with his team's display in Sunday night's 1-1 draw against Roma in Serie A, Mourinho took to outright criticism of his players - and, of course, the referee. "It has been an awful game from everyone," he said. "There was a team that was unable to win, another team that didn't want to win and someone else [the referee] who made too many calls."

The Nerazzurri had gone into the game at the San Siro on the back of five consecutive victories but struggled to beat Roma's well-placed defence. Mirko Vucinic put Roma ahead in the 13th minute but Samuel Eto'o earned Inter a point early in the second half, which leaves Inter still five points ahead of Juventus at the top of Serie A Inter youngster Mario Balotelli, who replaced Patrick Vieira at half-time, took the brunt of the criticism.

"Balotelli? In my opinion he came close to a zero rating," said Mourinho. "I didn't like how he played. He is 19 but could have done much better." Mourinho did not believe the game had hurt his side in the title race, though. "I didn't like the game," he said. "The only thing that I liked was the result. We took a point at home against a team that has quality like Roma and that is fine." Meanwhile, AC Milan-bound David Beckham will miss England's friendly against Brazil in Qatar on Saturday after the midfielder extended his season with the Los Angeles Galaxy as they reached the Major League Soccer Western Conference final with a victory over local rivals Chivas USA.

The Galaxy progressed to Friday night's game against Houston Dynamo with a 1-0 second-leg win over Chivas at the Home Depot Centre. They are just one game away from the MLS Cup final which decides the league champions. Beckham had sent in a defence-splitting pass to Landon Donovan that led to Mike Magee being felled for the game-winning penalty, but he was forced out of the action five minutes later having struggled from a knock to his lower back. Beckham had ice strapped to the problem area and watched from the bench as his teammates hung on to their lead against a late Chivas rally.

* With agencies

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Sunday's games

All times UAE:

Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace, 4pm

Manchester City v Arsenal, 6.15pm

Everton v Watford, 8.30pm

Chelsea v Manchester United, 8.30pm

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat

If you go...

Etihad Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur, from about Dh3,600. Air Asia currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts planning to launch direct chartered flights to Redang Island in the near future. Rooms at The Taaras Beach and Spa Resort start from 680RM (Dh597).