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 will be written with the assistance of European football correspondent Andy Mitten.
Chelsea and Manchester City are teams I expect to challenge for the Premier League title. If Manchester United buy a striker who knows how to score in England then that would make a difference, but champions Chelsea will be very hard to overcome.
If Pedro joins United then they’ll get a great player, but United need a goalscorer to help Rooney or create competition for their captain to keep him at his best. They’re also not settled like the current champions.
United are in transition and the summer signings look solid, but Chelsea finished 17 points ahead of United and I think they’re still improving, with a core of players in their mid-twenties.
They don’t have the individual talents of Barcelona or Real Madrid, but Chelsea are organised, know how to win and are hard to beat. Jose Mourinho is more important than any player, he sets the tone at the club, he rules with authority and he makes few changes and knows what it takes to win the title.
Diego Costa had a great first season in England — and that’s very hard to do after playing elsewhere. Radamel Falcao saw how hard it can be and he struggled at United, but can he get back to his best under Mourinho? That’s going to be one of the most interesting things to see.
PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEW SERIES: COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE NEW SEASON WITH TEAM GUIDES, PREDICTIONS AND OPINIONS
While I can see sense in signing Falcao, the signs haven’t looked good. Even when Falcao was back among friends in the environment he likes best playing for Colombia, he had a disappointing Copa America. I hope he comes good again in London and we see the Falcao of old.
Another Colombian who I’ll be watching closely is the winger Juan Cuadrado. I saw him make a difference for Fiorentina and Colombia so many times by going past players. He’s really exciting and quick, but he hasn’t had the same opportunities at Chelsea. I understand that, it’s hard to start a player in a winning team. Maybe he’ll be better with a full preseason behind him because Chelsea will certainly play a lot of games. Falcao’s arrival should also help him feel more settled.
United signed expensive stars last season but it didn’t work out for Falcao and Angel di Maria. Players need time to adapt but those two were not going to get that time at United. So United have signed Morgan Schneiderlin, Matteo Darmian, Memphis Depay, Sergio Romero and Bastian Schweinsteiger — the best of their signings and just what they need. He knows the coach too, that will help, but United’s signings aren’t the big, big stars that are at Barcelona and Real Madrid.
United is a not a team of stars, but the stars are usually the ones who make the difference at the end of the season when you’re winning titles. They just didn’t at United last season, where Robin van Persie also could have done better. So maybe United are looking at things differently with Van Gaal. They beat Barcelona in a friendly in California last weekend, but don’t pretend that United are currently anywhere near as good as Barcelona, the best team in the world at the moment.
United have slipped from a trophy winning team who needed to buy two or three key players each season to one which has been buying five or six. And teams who buy so many players don’t tend to find success immediately.
At least Van Gaal is now in his second season, that makes a big difference for a coach, not that Luis Enrique struggled in his first season at Barcelona last year. Unlike last year, United need to start well. They’re already coming from behind because they’re in transition.
Conversely, a winning start can give a new team a huge lift. If United win the European play-off tie — that’s a key earlier game — then that will be a huge boost, but as it stands I see City as being more consistent than United. Given the money they’ve spent, they need to win an international competition to move up to the next level, a Champions League or Europa League.
City are settled and consistent in the league. I’m glad they stood by my old boss Manuel Pellegrini. He’s one of the best managers that I worked with; he just needs to get City to do better in Europe.
Arsenal, one of the two strongest teams when I played in England, don’t win league titles any more. They have a good team and I like the football they play, the way they also sign and develop younger players.
Petr Cech is an excellent goalkeeper, but if you’re going to win the league then you need to buy some big stars. Arsenal have bought Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez in recent years for big money, but I still think they need something more. The way they are now, I don’t think they can fight for the title. They have spells over two or three months when they remain unbeaten, but then pick up some awful results.
They also suffer more injuries than other teams, but when they’re playing well I love to watch Arsenal.
I can’t see any other teams challenging for the title. Liverpool have little chance of coming close like they did with my friend Luis Suarez in 2014, but could push for the top places if one of the big four fails. That’s not something I expect to happen, but I’ve been in football long enough to see far stranger things. Overall, I can’t wait to watch the English league, even if like the rest of the world, it’s now from afar.
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Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
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THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
THREE
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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.”
WWE Super ShowDown results
Seth Rollins beat Baron Corbin to retain his WWE Universal title
Finn Balor defeated Andrade to stay WWE Intercontinental Championship
Shane McMahon defeated Roman Reigns
Lars Sullivan won by disqualification against Lucha House Party
Randy Orton beats Triple H
Braun Strowman beats Bobby Lashley
Kofi Kingston wins against Dolph Zigggler to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Mansoor Al Shehail won the 50-man Battle Royal
The Undertaker beat Goldberg
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope
Defenders: John Stones, Harry Maguire, Phil Jones, Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier, Gary Cahill, Ashley Young, Danny Rose, Trent Alexander-Arnold
Midfielders: Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard, Raheem Sterling, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fabian Delph
Forwards: Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck
UAE SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Adel Al Hosani
Defenders: Bandar Al Ahbabi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Mohammed Barghash, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Hassan Al Mahrami, Yousef Jaber, Salem Rashid, Mohammed Al Attas, Alhassan Saleh
Midfielders: Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Majed Hassan, Yahya Nader, Ahmed Barman, Abdullah Hamad, Khalfan Mubarak, Khalil Al Hammadi, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Harib Abdallah, Mohammed Jumah, Yahya Al Ghassani
Forwards: Fabio De Lima, Caio Canedo, Ali Saleh, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue, Zayed Al Ameri
TEAMS
EUROPE:
Justin Rose, Francesco Molinari, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Alex Noren, Thorbjorn Olesen, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson
USA:
Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Webb Simpson, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau ( 1 TBC)
The winners
Fiction
- ‘Amreekiya’ by Lena Mahmoud
- ‘As Good As True’ by Cheryl Reid
The Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award
- ‘Syrian and Lebanese Patricios in Sao Paulo’ by Oswaldo Truzzi; translated by Ramon J Stern
- ‘The Sound of Listening’ by Philip Metres
The George Ellenbogen Poetry Award
- ‘Footnotes in the Order of Disappearance’ by Fady Joudah
Children/Young Adult
- ‘I’ve Loved You Since Forever’ by Hoda Kotb
Profile Periscope Media
Founder: Smeetha Ghosh, one co-founder (anonymous)
Launch year: 2020
Employees: four – plans to add another 10 by July 2021
Financing stage: $250,000 bootstrap funding, approaching VC firms this year
Investors: Co-founders
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 240hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 390Nm at 3,000rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh122,745
On sale: now
'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
Director:Michael Lehmann
Stars:Kristen Bell
Rating: 1/5
UAE SQUAD
Khalid Essa (Al Ain), Ali Khaseif (Al Jazira), Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah), Mahmoud Khamis (Al Nasr), Yousef Jaber (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai), Khalifa Al Hammadi (Jazira), Salem Rashid (Jazira), Shaheen Abdelrahman (Sharjah), Faris Juma (Al Wahda), Mohammed Shaker (Al Ain), Mohammed Barghash (Wahda), Abdulaziz Haikal (Shabab Al Ahli), Ahmed Barman (Al Ain), Khamis Esmail (Wahda), Khaled Bawazir (Sharjah), Majed Surour (Sharjah), Abdullah Ramadan (Jazira), Mohammed Al Attas (Jazira), Fabio De Lima (Al Wasl), Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Khalfan Mubarak (Jazira), Habib Fardan (Nasr), Khalil Ibrahim (Wahda), Ali Mabkhout (Jazira), Ali Saleh (Wasl), Caio (Al Ain), Sebastian Tagliabue (Nasr).
'Joker'
Directed by: Todd Phillips
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix
Rating: Five out of five stars
