SINGAPORE // Everton manager Roberto Martinez has hit out at the public manner of Chelsea’s attempts to sign his promising young centre-back John Stones.
It was reported that Chelsea had a £20 million (Dh114.6m) offer for the defender, who made his England debut last year, rejected by Everton on Friday.
But the Premier League champions are expected to bid again.
Martinez, talking after a 3-1 defeat by Arsenal in the final of the Premier League’s Asia Trophy in Singapore yesterday, said further bids for the versatile, former Barnsley defender, 21, would not be welcomed.
“We pride ourselves on playing a certain way and educating our young players in a manner that they are going to always get attention from elsewhere and that is always a compliment,” the Spaniard said.
“The other side is the disappointment of seeing a football club leaking such statements to the press and making it so open.
“That is not the way we would do it at Everton, we would not speak of a player who is registered at another club and there is no issue from our point of view – John Stones is an Everton player.”
Pressed again on the issue and the likelihood of further bids from Chelsea, a visibly irritated Martinez offered a firm reply.
ALSO: Jose Mourinho admits Chelsea have made a bid for Everton's John Stones
“We are not a selling club,” said the coach who won the FA Cup with Wigan Athletic in 2013. “We are not a club that needs to be worried about what other clubs put through the press.”
Meanwhile, a full-strength Arsenal impressed as they got their hands on the Asia Trophy.
Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil scored the goals in a strong display that left manager Arsene Wenger pleasantly surprised by his team’s free-flowing, attacking play.
“I’m pleased with the performance. For long periods we played in a very convincing way and the way we want to play, together, good team play and everybody shared the same vision,” the Frenchman said.
He said he had been a little surprised by the performance because the team had completed a solid training run on Friday and he expected them to be a bit tired.
“But they were quite sharp today,” Wenger said.
Manchester City were the last winners of the biennial Asia Trophy in Hong Kong and went on to win the Premier League the next season, a fact that brought a smile when pointed out to Wenger. “If it was as simple as that everybody would like to play the Asian Trophy every year,” he said.
“I’m long enough in the job to know that it depends on the quality of our performances but it’s good to increase the level of confidence with performances like that.”
Stoke, beaten by Everton in a penalty shootout on Wednesday, defeated the hosts 2-0 in Saturday’s third-place play-off.
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.”
