England manager Gareth Southgate has named Leicester City attacker James Maddison and Newcastle United striker Callum Wilson in his 26-man squad for the World Cup finals in Qatar.
The in-form pair have been brought back for their first international call-ups in three years. Maddison’s only England cap came as a substitute against Montenegro in November 2019 – also the last squad Wilson, who has one goal from four appearances, was involved in.
England play their first game against Iran on November 21, then take on the United States on November 25 and Wales four days later.
“He’s playing really well,” Southgate said of Maddison. “Look, he’s a good player, we’ve always said he's a good player. We think he can give us something slightly different to the other attacking players we’ve got.
“At various stages there have been conversations about James. He is playing as well as any of the attacking players in this country.”
There is a recall for rejuvenated Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford, whose last cap came in the Euro 2020 final loss to Italy.
There is no space in Southgate’s Qatar selection for Roma striker Tammy Abraham, Brentford frontman Ivan Toney or West Ham forward Jarrod Bowen.
“Tammy has had a poor run of scoring form at the wrong time, Southgate said of Abraham. “It is not a case where we are three or four weeks away from the first match, we are now 10 days, so form could be more important.
“We are watching their club form but we don't know where they are until we see them face to face.
“You still don't get the full picture until you work with them and see how they train with each other.”
Manchester City pair Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips were included despite a lack of match fitness, while Manchester United captain Harry Maguire has been named in the squad despite his limited game time.
“Kalvin played last night; he is free of injury,” said Southgate. “We are aware he is not going to be able to play seven 90 minutes, that won't be possible. But he is available.
“We don't really have a lot of cover for that role in the country. Kalvin is a super player and we feel it is a risk worth taking. Kyle is not back in full training but will be available before the end of the group stage.”
Versatile Arsenal defender Ben White has been brought into a group that has Luke Shaw as the only out-and-out left-back. Marc Guehi, Fikayo Tomori and Tyrone Mings are among those missing out.
Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher made the cut but Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse again just missed out on a major tournament squad.
“We’ve wanted to make sure the balance of the squad is right,” added Southgate.
“I think the squad is more important than ever. With five substitutes you can have almost half the team changed during the game so you want different options for different moments of matches and stages at the tournament as well.
“We’ve had to cover a couple of players that aren’t yet fully fit, so having 26 available meant we were probably able to take a couple of risks that you might not have been able to with 23, but we think the balance is there and we’ve got cover in the positions we need.
“We’re lighter on depth in some positions than others but we think we’ve got everything covered.”
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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