Striker Olivier Giroud remains confident he can prove himself the right man to lead Arsenal's attack this season.
The France international has again seen his position come under scrutiny as the North London club have been linked with a big-money move for Karim Benzema from Real Madrid.
However, 6ft 3ins frontman Giroud – who netted 19 goals last season despite being out for three months with a broken leg – has no doubts he has what it takes to spearhead Arsenal's Premier League challenge.
“I showed great mental strength last year and I had good stats,” said Giroud, whose injury-time strike settled a 4-0 FA Cup final victory over Aston Villa at Wembley.
“I always try to improve myself and I feel with the team, so yes, I am sure I can bring something more to the team and to my teammates.”
Like summer signing Petr Cech and the rest of the Arsenal squad, Giroud endured an opening day to forget as Arsene Wenger’s men were beaten 2-0 at home by West Ham United.
The 28-year-old accepts things must improve if they are to get a positive result at Crystal Palace on Sunday.
“In pre-season, we all worked well together. We won the Community Shield so there is a lot of expectation for this first game,” he said.
“Unfortunately we have made mistakes we will learn from them and try not to do it again.
“We can succeed to play our game, we want to bounce back on Sunday.”
Giroud believes Wenger’s current squad do have what it takes to mount a serious title challenge.
He added: “When you want to win the league it is always a mix of skill and mental quality, technique and tactical.
“You cannot win the league without mental strength, so obviously we need that and I think we have got it in our squad, the team is fantastic, like our understanding between us together. I think we can do well with that.”
Palace started the new season where they had left off in May, battling to a 3-1 win at newly-promoted Norwich City.
Arsenal manager Wenger believes this season will show the depth of quality within the English top flight.
He said: “It will certainly be a tighter and tougher league because the quality of teams in the lower half of the table has improved.
“What gives you a good indication is if you look at the bench of the team you play against. Now, when you look at the teams in the second part of the table and you look at their bench, it indicates that you will have tough games.”
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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.”
