Diego Forlan writes a weekly column for The National, appearing each Friday. The former Manchester United, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid striker has been the top scorer in Europe twice and won the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup. Forlan's column is written with the assistance of European football correspondent Andy Mitten.
I am 37 and about to move to India to continue my football career.
The world’s second-most populous country will be the eighth in which I have lived and played professional football after Argentina, England, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Japan and Uruguay.
I have happy memories from all. Some worked out better than others and I would have rather played more games and scored more goals at Manchester United or Inter Milan, but I look back at my career with pride.
People used to say that a football career was 15 years. I have been playing professional football for 20 and have no intention of stopping. My father always told me to enjoy playing while I could, so I am doing that.
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I do not intend to stop when the Indian Super League, which only lasts for three months this season, finishes before the end of 2016. I’d love to continue playing and I will see which offers appear.
I do it because I love football. It is my job. It is what I get paid to do and it is what I still enjoy. If I did not, I would quit.
I keep really fit. I wake up at 7am each morning and work out with a personal trainer. I still have the drive and motivation to play. I still feel sharp in front of goal and I was playing for the national team until last year.
Football has allowed me to see the world and in Paz, I have a wife who is keen to see the world with me. She was happy to move to Brazil and Japan. She was also happy to be back in our native Uruguay for the birth of our first child, Martin.
Some players have partners who are not keen to move around. If Paz did not want to, I would not be going to India, but this is a lady who did really well learning Japanese when we lived there, who climbed Mount Fuji without me and who learnt to paint in a Japanese style. She is enthusiastic about moving to India and taking our son with us.
So, why India? It is different, for a start.
I had offers to play in England this summer and last. The only team I will play for in England is Manchester United.
If Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wayne Rooney, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford all were out of the picture, I would be happy to go on an emergency loan and help out United. Maybe play at Liverpool away, score a goal or two and then make way when the injured come back.
I had offers from Spain and Italy, too. But I feel that I have done my time in both countries, sampled the life there and enjoyed myself. Now I am ready for something new.
India is definitely that. Cricket is the No 1 sport, especially in Mumbai where I am headed, but the Indian Super League has been a success.
The average attendances across all the games was 27,224 last season. That makes it the fifth-highest average for any league in the world. Atletico de Kolkata, who have links to my old club Atletico Madrid, had a crowd of 68,000 for one game.
The standards are improving, too. When the league started in 2014, the big-name foreign players tended to be ones who had just retired. Now, because the Indian League wants to improve standards, they are attracting people who are still playing.
Nicolas Anelka, Elano, Roberto Carlos, Adrian Mutu, Florent Malouda, Helder Postiga, Didier Zokora and John Arne Riise and my old teammate Simao were all involved last year.
Some will be involved again, while Steve Coppell and Gianluca Zambrotta have already been confirmed as managers. The teams are spending serious money to get good footballers. The league may be extended next year from the current three-month format.
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Over a billion people live in India, so the potential is huge. The organisers want to raise standards because India have not done well in football.
I have been to India once, to the football city of Kolkata, but it was a brief visit. I have heard people say that India is a great place, others say it is a terrible place. I am fortunate to have the chance to find out for myself, to form my own opinion. If I like it, maybe I will go back the following season. Who knows?
I will be 38 then, but Ryan Giggs and Teddy Sheringham played until they were 40. I’d love to play until the same age.
My new team will begin pre-season training in the UAE in September, where we will be based in Dubai. I am looking forward to that, before we move to Mumbai where the team all lives in a hotel together.
We will train, play and then have the rest of the time free with family to learn about the country and the culture. That is attractive for someone used to spending 180 days of the year in hotels away from my family.
Once the league begins, there will be two games each week – probably 17 in 10 weeks. I want to play in all those matches, want to get in the rhythm of a game every few days.
Then, when I finish, I will be as fit as I can be going into the transfer window for my next move.
But first, India awaits.
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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.”
World Series
Game 1: Red Sox 8, Dodgers 4
Game 2: Red Sox 4, Dodgers 2
Game 3: Saturday (UAE)
* if needed
Game 4: Sunday
Game 5: Monday
Game 6: Wednesday
Game 7: Thursday
Company%20profile
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What is an FTO Designation?
FTO designations impose immigration restrictions on members of the organisation simply by virtue of their membership and triggers a criminal prohibition on knowingly providing material support or resources to the designated organisation as well as asset freezes.
It is a crime for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to or receive military-type training from or on behalf of a designated FTO.
Representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens, are inadmissible to and, in certain circumstances removable from, the United States.
Except as authorised by the Secretary of the Treasury, any US financial institution that becomes aware that it has possession of or control over funds in which an FTO or its agent has an interest must retain possession of or control over the funds and report the funds to the Treasury Department.
Source: US Department of State
Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
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NBA Finals results
Game 1: Warriors 124, Cavaliers 114
Game 2: Warriors 122, Cavaliers 103
Game 3: Cavaliers 102, Warriors 110
Game 4: In Cleveland, Sunday (Monday morning UAE)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
Five personal finance podcasts from The National
To help you get started, tune into these Pocketful of Dirham episodes
·
Balance is essential to happiness, health and wealth
·
What is a portfolio stress test?
·
What are NFTs and why are auction houses interested?
·
How gamers are getting rich by earning cryptocurrencies
·
Should you buy or rent a home in the UAE?
