When Gareth Bale was sold to Real Madrid for a world-record fee of £85 million (Dh451.8m) in the summer of 2013, it was anticipated Tottenham Hotspur would use the proceeds to build a team capable of qualifying for the Uefa Champions League on a regular basis.
Things did not quite go to plan. While it was later claimed that Tottenham made a mistake in signing seven newcomers instead of using the funds to bring in one or two elite-level players, the failure of the endeavour lied in its execution rather than its conception.
Splitting the funds to strengthen multiple areas of the team was a sensible idea, but by the time Mauricio Pochettino had taken the reins at White Hart Lane in May 2014, most of the previous year’s acquisitions were considered expensive flops.
Read more: Tottenham are still on track, writes Greg Lea: Unfair to say these are same old Spurs
Arsenal hysterics finally feel justified, as Arsene Wenger’s almost-success finally feels unacceptable
When Tottenham kicked off this season's campaign against Manchester United back in August, three members of the septet – Paulinho, Etienne Capoue and Vlad Chiriches – were no longer present and another, Roberto Soldado, was on his way to Villarreal.
Christian Eriksen and Nacer Chadli had impressed Pochettino enough to remain, but the speculation linking Erik Lamela with a move away continued right up until the final hours of the summer transfer window.
In the end, the Argentine stayed put despite reported interest from Marseille, Inter Milan and former club Roma.
Although he had shown flashes of quality in his first couple of years in north London, it is safe to say that the majority of Tottenham supporters would not have been at all distraught had a deal gone through, with Marseille president Vincent Labrune claiming that the Premier League side pulled the plug on a transfer at the last minute after failing to secure the signature of a replacement in time.
Six and a half months on and it would be a tough task finding a Spurs fan who does not appreciate Lamela’s value to their team’s title tilt.
In many ways, the previously feeble and fragile winger has become the embodiment of Pochettino’s hard-running, high-energy and physically robust championship-chasing outfit.
Lamela may not be producing quite as many moments of magic as he did in his final 15-goal season at Roma – although Eriksen is the only Tottenham player to have created more chances in the Premier League – but he can no longer be accused of going missing in matches or allowing the speed of the English game to pass him by.
In fact, it is often he who sets the tempo for his side, hassling and harrying opponents when he does not have the ball and combining neatly with his attacking colleagues when he does.
“I think I need a bit of time,” Lamela replied when asked in October 2013 why he had struggled to hit the ground running in his first few months at Tottenham.
“I need training, a bit of rhythm, some games. English football is very different from the game in Italy – much more physical, whereas Serie A is more tactical.
“It’s not necessarily more difficult, but it’s just different. This is a style of football I like very much, though, and I think, with the way I play, it will be very suited to my game.”
It can be easy to forget that moving to a new competition in a different country is far from straightforward for footballers in their early 20s, who are often weighed down by a price tag they had no say in setting.
It has taken the Argentina international a couple of years to fully find his feet in the Premier League, but Tottenham’s patience is now paying off.
Young, energetic and with a strong appreciation of the collective, there is no-one who epitomises what Pochettino’s Tottenham stand for more than Lamela.
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MATCH INFO
Bangla Tigers 108-5 (10 ovs)
Ingram 37, Rossouw 26, Pretorius 2-10
Deccan Gladiators 109-4 (9.5 ovs)
Watson 41, Devcich 27, Wiese 2-15
Gladiators win by six wickets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
DUBAI%20BLING%3A%20EPISODE%201
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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.”
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.
Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.
Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
Fixtures
Tuesday - 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs
Wednesday - 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms
Thursday - 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles
Friday - 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon
Saturday - 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon
