Jurgen Klopp backs Mohamed Salah to use Afcon pain as fuel for success at Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp hopes Mohamed Salah can channel the massive disappointment of Egypt’s defeat in the African Cup of Nations to propel Liverpool’s challenge for glory on four fronts.

While Sadio Mane will miss Thursday's game against Leicester after taking part in Senegal’s celebrations, Salah’s Egypt lost Sunday’s final because of a penalty shootout in which the Premier League’s top scorer did not even get to take a spot kick.

Klopp is waiting to see how long it takes Salah to get over his heartbreak but while he thinks it is impossible for the forward to be more determined than he already was, he is encouraged by his side’s record of responding to anguish.

Salah went off injured in the 2018 Champions League final loss to Real Madrid and went on to score as they won the 2019 showpiece against Tottenham, before helping them lift the Premier League title the following season.

And the Liverpool manager said: “He is happy to be back but massively disappointed. It is always hard to lose a final but losing in the manner was especially hard. I hope today will be better but yesterday we could see he has the final in his mind.

“I am not sure it is human to have greater determination than Mo already had. The experience of playing a tournament, not knowing where it is going and then qualifying in the hardest possible manner for a final and playing an absolutely great final… that all helps in the long term but I don’t think there is a lot of space for more determination in Mo’s mind. He is very determined and we are the best example that when you lose a final it is very hard but when you use it for the next big game and the next tournament then it can be helpful.”

Egypt went to extra-time in all four knockout games in Cameroon and Klopp faces a decision whether to bring Salah straight back into the team. His forward options have expanded with Luis Diaz available to make his Premier League debut. The January signing got an assist 10 minutes into his Liverpool career in Sunday’s FA Cup win over Cardiff and Klopp has been encouraged by his first glimpses of the £50 million Colombian.

“We had a long talk with [assistant manager] Pep Lijnders who speaks Portuguese and Spanish,” he said.

“He is a really nice guy and I liked his contribution in the Cardiff game. Yesterday in training we started with a long rondo and I am not sure I ever saw a player smiling that constantly. We could see very naturally he fitted in the Cardiff game; positioning-wise, he played exactly like we wanted him to but that is only a starting point so there is a lot more to come.”

Klopp also wanted to praise and older and cheaper recruit as he hailed defender Joel Matip, who joined in 2016, as perhaps Liverpool’s best free transfer. “Joel is an outstanding centre-back,” he said. “A lot of people think about what are our best signings on a free transfer. I imagine it would be a really close race between James Milner and Joel.”

Liverpool are still in all four competitions and while Klopp admits the quadruple is improbable, he vowed to do everything he can to see where their campaign can take them.

“If we talk about the maximum it is winning all four but it doesn’t look really likely,” he said. “We are not to know what will happen at the end of May. We want to squeeze out everything in this season. We still have to accept we may not get everything as a reward.”

UAE tour of Zimbabwe

All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – UAE won by 36 runs
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I

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.”

Jurgen Klopp backs Mohamed Salah to use Afcon pain as fuel for success at Liverpool

Salah's Egypt lost the continental title match to Sadio Mane's Senegal after a penalty shootout

UAE tour of Zimbabwe