It was only six years ago, according to Uefa's official rankings, that Liverpool were the best team in Europe.
They certainly looked that way as they demolished Real Madrid 4-0 before, four days later, beating Manchester United 4-1. Fernando Torres, who had come third in the Ballon d’Or voting three months earlier, scored their first goal in each game. Steven Gerrard, who would win the Footballer of the Year award two months later, scored the second. Anfield seemed the place to be.
Jump ahead six years and Liverpool sit 55th in Uefa’s coefficients. Their 1984 European Cup-winning captain, Graeme Souness, said he fears they have become a selling club.
Their prized assets, whether Fernando Torres, Luis Suarez or Raheem Sterling, have been bought by wealthier clubs.
Read more: Ian Hawkey profiles Jurgen Klopp, bringing radical football with a 'populist touch' to Liverpool
A range of top-level targets, with Alexis Sanchez the most prominent, but Diego Costa, Willian, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Yevhen Konoplyanka also among them, have not ended up at Anfield.
Liverpool have become accustomed to rejection. One of Europe’s grandest, greatest clubs has seemed mired in the ranks of the second rate. Since the heady days of March 2009, their only Champions League wins have come against Hungarian and Romanian opposition. They have qualified for the competition once in six seasons.
And then they hired Jurgen Klopp as manager.
The German’s appointment will be welcome for many reasons. The first, before talk of tactics, is emotional. He has restored a downbeat club’s self-esteem. Just as Manchester United, after finishing seventh in 2014, welcomed Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao with open arms because they provided proof they still possessed pulling power, so Klopp’s arrival offers a reminder of what Liverpool was.
He is a double Bundesliga winner and a Champions League finalist. Liverpool can sense more similarities with Rafa Benitez, who joined in 2004 as a double La Liga and a Uefa Cup winner, than Roy Hodgson, Kenny Dalglish and Brendan Rodgers. Two came from lesser clubs, in Fulham and Swansea City, and the other from semi-retirement. The most recent trophy any had won was the 2001 Danish Super Cup.
Now Klopp has arrived. A man tipped to be the next manager of Barcelona and Bayern Munich has plumped for Liverpool. He represents an obvious upgrade on Rodgers. Those who believe Fenway Sports Group acted strangely by investing in some of the Northern Irishman’s chosen players in the summer only to sack him eight games later have nonetheless to applaud Liverpool’s American owners for an overdue show of ambition.
They have spent money – some £420 million (Dh2.36 billion) in transfer fees over the five years of their ownership – but, since Suarez became their first signing, rarely an A-list talent.
Klopp represents the exception. For different reasons, it was hard to imagine any of Europe’s superpowers appointing Hodgson in 2010, Dalglish in 2011 or Rodgers in 2012. It was altogether easier to envisage them choosing Klopp now.
His allure lies not just in his CV, but in his outsized personality.
If the long-term tests include enticing players of his stature to Anfield, shoring up a porous defence, getting his new charges to adopt his high-speed pressing game and competing against four clubs with bigger wage bills and, in most cases, larger transfer budgets, Klopp’s immediate impact involves an injection of charisma. A larger-than-life figure is particularly welcome at a club stripped of some of the bigger characters from the playing staff in recent years. It explains why Liverpool have looked rudderless at times.
Klopp is a moderniser who has revived one historic club, harnessing the power of its huge fan base and generating a unity to enabled Borussia Dortmund to turn back time.
His belief in the power of the people and his bond with them had echoes of the relationship Bill Shankly, the founder of Liverpool’s winning dynasty, established at Anfield in the 1960s.
Klopp is throwback and revolutionary, manager and morale booster. The real challenges begin at Tottenham next week but for now, Liverpool can savour a coup that leaves them feeling wanted again.
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The specs: 2019 Mini Cooper
Price, base: Dh141,740 (three-door) / Dh165,900 (five-door)
Engine: 1.5-litre four-cylinder (Cooper) / 2.0-litre four-cylinder (Cooper S)
Power: 136hp @ 4,500rpm (Cooper) / 192hp @ 5,000rpm (Cooper S)
Torque: 220Nm @ 1,480rpm (Cooper) / 280Nm @ 1,350rpm (Cooper S)
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 4.8L to 5.4L / 100km
The%20specs
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Pots for the Asian Qualifiers
Pot 1: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China
Pot 2: Iraq, Uzbekistan, Syria, Oman, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic, Vietnam, Jordan
Pot 3: Palestine, India, Bahrain, Thailand, Tajikistan, North Korea, Chinese Taipei, Philippines
Pot 4: Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Yemen, Afghanistan, Maldives, Kuwait, Malaysia
Pot 5: Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Guam, Macau/Sri Lanka
The specs: Rolls-Royce Cullinan
Price, base: Dh1 million (estimate)
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 563hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 850Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 15L / 100km
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: ten-speed
Power: 420bhp
Torque: 624Nm
Price: Dh325,125
On sale: Now
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.”
PAKISTAN SQUAD
Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali (test captain), Babar Azam (T20 captain), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah.
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
