Sport

5 days to Premier League season: Manchester United reloaded and ready to challenge for title

The National’s sports team is counting down the days until defending champions Leicester City take on newly promoted Hull City in the opening fixture of the 2016/17 season by looking at one team a day.

Steve Luckings
Steve Luckings

August 07, 2016

• More: Richard Jolly's predictions | Fixtures in UAE time

The National's sports team is counting down the days until defending champions Leicester City take on newly promoted Hull City in the opening fixture of the 2016/17 English Premier League season by looking at one team a day. Today, Manchester United.

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Punch, penetration, precision and incision – all the elements United lacked in their attacking build-up last season have been resoundingly addressed with the signings of Henrik Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and with the club in negotiations to smash the world record transfer fee to bring prodigal son Paul Pogba back to the club from Juventus, United will have teeth sharpened for the season ahead.

Jose Mourinho has wasted little time signalling his intention that he aims to make United the fourth championship-winning team on his CV. The addition of Eric Bailly in central defence could see a partnership alongside Chris Smalling blossom into the bedrock that has hallmarked the club for years, from Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister to Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Matic. With Luke Shaw back to full fitness following a horrific leg break last year, United’s defence has a formidable look about it once again.

United fans had become disillusioned with the style of football under Mourinho’ predecessor Louis van Gaal, when even an FA Cup final triumph in May was not enough to save the Dutchman’s job. Mourinho rarely leaves a club on good terms, but he does leave with additional silverware to line each club’s trophy cabinet.

Expect United to improve on a fifth-placed finish under the Portuguese; sign the Frenchman Pogba and expect them to be serious challengers to Leicester City’s title.

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Previously

• Hull City: Promoted club had unstable summer

• Middlesbrough: Hopes lie largely in Spaniards

• Burnley: Third time the charm?

• Sunderland: Moyes the make-or-break factor in survival hopes

• Bournemouth: Well placed to avoid 'second season syndrome'

• Crystal Palace: Time to deliver on all that talent

• West Bromwich Albion: Another season of mid-table mediocrity

• Watford: Early fixtures will set the tone — for better or worse

• Swansea City: Swans need a striker, and stability

• Everton: In good hands with Koeman

• Chelsea: Hazard key to turnaround year

• Stoke City: Defensive stability is essential

• Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp era begins in earnest

• West Ham United: New home, with new expectations

• Southampton: Puel in for baptism by fire

Still to come

• Tomorrow: Manchester City

• Wednesday: Tottenham

• Thursday: Arsenal

• Friday: Leicester City

• Saturday: Premier League season begins

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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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