Casemiro was Manchester United’s goalscorer and man of the match in Saturday’s crucial away victory at Bournemouth.
His spectacular finish earned United all three points on the south coast and put them within touching distance of Champions League football next season
The performance led his manager Erik ten Hag to say: “He keeps surprising us, he is such a brilliant football player. It was a great goal from Casemiro, a brilliant finish – and he keeps the team together.
"Casemiro won the most duels, regained possession more than any other player and took more shots than any other player. He has exceeded expectations, absolutely. His contribution is massive.”
Casemiro holds his manager in similar esteem.
“He has surprised me a lot with his ambition,” said the Brazilian. “We have been talking among us, and we have been saying that he is a little bit heavy because he always likes to win.
"He is asking for more because for him 100 per cent is not enough. We have to give more than 100 per cent. He works a lot and is very ambitious. He has the ambition to change the whole club.
“He is a manager who has the respect from all the players and the fans as well. But I think we need to give him time because despite the fact we have already won one title and are quite close to the Champions League, we need more time to grow up. We can see he is changing a lot of things within the club. He is always showing ambition to win.”
Casemiro was satisfied with the win over Bournemouth that leaves United needing just one point from the final two home games to guarantee Champions League football next season. United were within a minute of that objective until Liverpool’s late equaliser at Aston Villa.
“It’s true that we haven’t reached the objective yet,” said Casemiro. “We still need one point. We cannot even think about drawing the next game, we need to go out to win the three points in the next game. We cannot be relaxed.
"We know Chelsea aren’t going doing well but they are a huge club that won the Champions League just a few years ago. It’s going to be a really difficult game. We are going to play in our stadium with our fans. Now we know we are really close to our objective, which is to qualify.”
Bournemouth 0 Manchester United 1: player ratings
The win at Bournemouth was key.
“The most important thing was to win the three points, that was our objective this afternoon,” he said before talking about his goal. “The assist from Christian was really good. But it wasn’t just the goal, the team played really well today. It was another game with a clean sheet and we had a really good dynamic.”
His ninth-minute bicycle kick was spectacular. “I had one a little bit similar when I was playing in Madrid,” he smiled, which he wasn’t doing when he was sent off in two home games for United in the spring.
“I am really happy here,” he said. “I am enjoying being in the Premier League a lot. I haven’t enjoyed so much for a long time and since I arrived at the club, all of the staff, the fans, everybody have been really incredible with me.
"I am trying to give them back everything on the field and give my best. It’s a really good experience for me. I hope and expect to continue in this way. We know that our objective is to win trophies and titles, and we are in the process of growing up.”
Casemiro is one of three Brazilians in United’s first team and he rates his fellow countrymen highly.
“Antony has incredible quality,” he said. “Fred hasn’t played a lot but he has always been giving the best when he has the opportunity to play. He has a really high level. They are really good players.”
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.”
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
