On-loan goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is unlikely to play for Atletico Madrid against his parent club Chelsea if the two sides are paired together in Friday’s draw for the Uefa Champions League semi-finals.
The 21-year-old Belgium international has been one of the stars of his side’s rise to the top of the Primera Liga this season and was outstanding as Atletico knocked Barcelona out of the competition on Wednesday.
However, Atletico president Enrique Cerezo confirmed there is a clause in the loan contract that means they would have to pay Chelsea “a lot of money” to field Courtois against the London side.
Speaking after Wednesday's 2-1 aggregate win over Barca, Cerezo said: "The problem is whether he can play or not if we come up against Chelsea. It could be that he cannot; the contract is the contract.
“If he is to play we will have to pay a large sum of money.”
Although Cerezo did not specify exactly how much was involved, Spanish media reported it would be around €3 million (Dh15.28m) for each leg.
Courteous joined Chelsea from Belgian side Genk in 2011 but was immediately loaned out to Atletico.
He has now played nearly 150 games for the Spanish side but none for Chelsea and Cerezo added that Atletico were so pleased with the keeper that they wanted him to stay at the Vicente Calderon past this season.
“We are trying to reach an agreement with Chelsea so he can stay with us for one more year,” he said.
If he is prevented from playing, Atletico would have to turn to reserve Dani Aranzubia, 34, who has played just once this season.
Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was fined £8,000 (Dh49,300) and warned about his future conduct after being sent to the stands in last month's 1-0 Premier League defeat at Aston Villa. The English Football Association announced his punishment in a statement on its website and said he breached Rule E3 by going on to the field in an attempt to speak to the referee.
Mourinho went on the Villa Park pitch to try to speak to referee Chris Foy after Brazilian midfielder Ramires became the second Chelsea player red-carded in the match following Willian’s earlier dismissal.
The Portuguese denied an improper conduct charge but he lost his case at Wednesday’s personal hearing with an independent regulatory commission. The finding was announced yesterday.
Mourinho claimed all he wanted to do was speak to the referee who refused to speak to him and sent him off from the dugout.
Afterwards Mourinho said Foy should not be allowed to take charge of any more Chelsea matches and continued his complaints for days afterwards saying he “would never accept” Foy’s performance.
Ronaldo could miss Champions League semi-final first leg
Cristiano Ronaldo has sustained a muscle injury in his left thigh, Real Madrid announced on Thursday, making the Portuguese striker a doubt for next week’s Copa del Rey final against Barcelona.
“Tests which Cristiano Ronaldo underwent have shown up a muscular injury to his left biceps femoris,” Real said, adding that his return to action was dependent on his reaction to rehabilitation.
According to the As newspaper website, Ronaldo could be out for two weeks, which would mean him missing the final in Valencia on Wednesday as well as the Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg match on April 22-23.
Ronaldo, scorer of 28 league goals this season, didn’t play in Real’s 4-0 Primera Liga victory over Real Sociedad on Saturday or Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat by Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League quarter-final, second leg, officially because of a left knee injury.
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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.”
RESULT
Bayern Munich 5 Eintrracht Frankfurt 2
Bayern: Goretzka (17'), Müller (41'), Lewandowski (46'), Davies (61'), Hinteregger (74' og)
Frankfurt: Hinteregger (52', 55')
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group B
Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Eriksen 80')
Inter Milan 0
Company name: Play:Date
Launched: March 2017 on UAE Mother’s Day
Founder: Shamim Kassibawi
Based: Dubai with operations in the UAE and US
Sector: Tech
Size: 20 employees
Stage of funding: Seed
Investors: Three founders (two silent co-founders) and one venture capital fund
Leaderboard
15 under: Paul Casey (ENG)
-14: Robert MacIntyre (SCO)
-13 Brandon Stone (SA)
-10 Laurie Canter (ENG) , Sergio Garcia (ESP)
-9 Kalle Samooja (FIN)
-8 Thomas Detry (BEL), Justin Harding (SA), Justin Rose (ENG)
