■ Manchester City v Stoke City: Thursday morning at midnight in UAE
Eight weeks after Pep Guardiola ruled Manchester City out of the Premier League title race, others have ruled them back in. It is not because Chelsea have floundered — quite the opposite — but City’s renaissance in a run of seven wins in eight games has prompted thoughts of a dramatic end to the season.
Not from the manager himself, aware there are plenty of variables in the equation and concentrating his attention on the visit of Stoke City.
“We are focused on the next game,” he said. “The gap is so big and it depends what happens.”
Win and it is down to eight points, a deficit City overturned to pip Manchester United to the crown in 2012.
“We have to play all the [top] teams,” Guardiola said. A meeting with the side at the foot of the table has convinced him Stoke will be difficult opponents. “Sunderland was so complicated,” he said, though City won 2-0.
__________________________________
Read more
■ Greg Lea: On 'flat track bullies' Chelsea marching towards title
■ Team of the week: Find out who joins Harry Kane in this week's XI
■ Antonio Conte: Chelsea must make Champions League 'every year'
__________________________________
While he is abiding by the mantra of taking each game at a time, Guardiola is looking further ahead in one respect. He has admitted City’s summer transfer activity is occupying some of his time.
“I am planning, [director of football] Txiki [Begiristain] is planning, the staff is planning. We have to have one eye on the short, the medium and the long term.”
He has accepted he may not be able to get everyone he wants.
“I would like to have English players but they are so expensive,” he said. “They feel something special but sometimes it’s not possible.”
City were forced to pay premium prices for their last two major English arrivals, Raheem Sterling and John Stones, but the winger, in particular, is excelling now.
So is the youngster on the other flank. As Guardiola himself has noted, there are fewer mentions of Leroy Sane’s cost now the German has scored in three successive games. The ominous element for opponents is that his manager believes he can get better.
“Sane is playing good but also we show him a lot of clips, of many not-good things he is doing and he can improve,” he said.
Sane fits into Guardiola’s philosophy of recruitment.
“We are buying for the long term,” he said. “That’s why Leroy is here, why Raz [Sterling] is here and why Gabriel [Jesus] is here. As young as possible is much better.”
In the short term, Kevin de Bruyne should return to the starting XI tonight after he was a substitute at Sunderland. With three more games before the international break, including a last-16, second-leg Uefa Champions League clash with Monaco and a potentially pivotal clash with Liverpool, Guardiola may be tempted to rotate, especially as tiredness is an issue.
It could be a fine time to face Stoke. Mark Hughes’s side are yet to record a win against anyone in the top half of the table and their task is rendered tougher because Bruno Martins Indi, Glen Johnson and Marko Arnautovic are all injury doubts.
Critics of Guardiola’s Barcelona used to wonder if they could prosper on a wintry night in Stoke. The Catalan’s City side proved they could do it on an August afternoon in the Potteries. City surged to a 4-1 win, Sergio Aguero and Nolito each scoring twice in Guardiola’s first away Premier League game.
A repeat might bring title talk, though not from the manager himself.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
The%20US%20Congress%2C%20explained
%3Cp%3E-%20US%20Congress%20is%20divided%20into%20two%20chambers%3A%20the%20House%20of%20Representatives%20and%20Senate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20435%20members%20make%20up%20the%20House%2C%20and%20100%20in%20the%20Senate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20A%20party%20needs%20control%20of%20218%20seats%20to%20have%20a%20majority%20in%20the%20House%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20In%20the%20Senate%2C%20a%20party%20needs%20to%20hold%2051%20seats%20for%20control%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20In%20the%20event%20of%20a%2050-50%20split%2C%20the%20vice%20president's%20party%20retains%20power%20in%20the%20Senate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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
Match info
UAE v Bolivia, Friday, 6.25pm, Maktoum bin Rashid Stadium, Dubai
Brolliology: A History of the Umbrella in Life and Literature
By Marion Rankine
Melville House
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.”
