Jarrod Bowen looks set to win his fitness battle ahead of West Ham’s quest for a Europa League comeback against newly-crowned Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen.
The Hammers’ top scorer missed their 2-0 quarter-final first-leg defeat in Germany, and was also absent for Sunday’s dismal Premier League loss at home to Fulham, with a hip injury.
But Bowen, who has 19 goals this season, returned to training on Wednesday and hopes are high that he will be available against Leverkusen.
Manager David Moyes said: “It was great to see Jarrod out there. We’re not sure yet. I would never risk a player if I thought they were injured but you always want your best players back in, your goalscorers as well, and Jarrod has been that this season.”
The news is a major boost for the Hammers as they seek to inflict a first defeat of the season on Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen.
However, the hosts will be without key Brazilian midfielder Lucas Paqueta through suspension after he was booked in the defeat in Germany.
“Most people know exactly what Jarrod has done for us over the season and others. It would give us and the crowd a real lift,” Moyes said.
“We’ve lost Lucas through suspension, and had Jarrod out through injury. We have to find ways of making magic happen.”
First-choice left-back Emerson Palmieiri is also suspended while centre-half Konstantinos Mavropanos is a doubt.
Leverkusen clinched a first-ever league title when they beat Werder Bremen 5-0 on Sunday sparking wild scenes at the BayArena, and Moyes hopes the celebrations went on long into the night – and might just affect them in this, their first match since.
“Rightly so, why would you not celebrate?” said Moyes. “To be the champions, you should celebrate, you should enjoy it because the moments go very quickly.”
Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, who turns 39 on Thursday, hopes West Ham can lean on their past experiences of making unlikely comebacks.
Fabianski was in a Hammers team who were 3-0 down at Tottenham with 10 minutes to go in 2020, and stormed back to draw 3-3.
“I think the confidence that we can take is from the experiences in recent years, games where we have been down and come back,” the former Poland international said.
“The Spurs game is one of the best examples, being 3-0 down and to score three in 10-15 minutes.
“We’ve experienced some great moments as a team in recent history and that will help us prepare mentally for (Thursday’s) game.”
Hours after sealing Leverkusen's maiden title win, coach Alonso told thousands of delirious fans “we want more”, laying down a marker in pursuit of a remarkable treble. With the league in the bag, they also face second division Kaiserslautern in the German Cup final next month.
“We want more. We want the (German) Cup, we want Europa League,” the 42-year-old said over the stadium PA to thousands of Leverkusen fans after his side's 43rd straight match without defeat.
Leverkusen win the Bundesliga – in pictures
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Five hymns the crowds can join in
Papal Mass will begin at 10.30am at the Zayed Sports City Stadium on Tuesday
Some 17 hymns will be sung by a 120-strong UAE choir
Five hymns will be rehearsed with crowds on Tuesday morning before the Pope arrives at stadium
‘Christ be our Light’ as the entrance song
‘All that I am’ for the offertory or during the symbolic offering of gifts at the altar
‘Make me a Channel of your Peace’ and ‘Soul of my Saviour’ for the communion
‘Tell out my Soul’ as the final hymn after the blessings from the Pope
The choir will also sing the hymn ‘Legions of Heaven’ in Arabic as ‘Assakiroo Sama’
There are 15 Arabic speakers from Syria, Lebanon and Jordan in the choir that comprises residents from the Philippines, India, France, Italy, America, Netherlands, Armenia and Indonesia
The choir will be accompanied by a brass ensemble and an organ
They will practice for the first time at the stadium on the eve of the public mass on Monday evening
Keane on …
Liverpool’s Uefa Champions League bid: “They’re great. With the attacking force they have, for me, they’re certainly one of the favourites. You look at the teams left in it - they’re capable of scoring against anybody at any given time. Defensively they’ve been good, so I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t go on and win it.”
Mohamed Salah’s debut campaign at Anfield: “Unbelievable. He’s been phenomenal. You can name the front three, but for him on a personal level, he’s been unreal. He’s been great to watch and hopefully he can continue now until the end of the season - which I’m sure he will, because he’s been in fine form. He’s been incredible this season.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s instant impact at former club LA Galaxy: “Brilliant. It’s been a great start for him and for the club. They were crying out for another big name there. They were lacking that, for the prestige of LA Galaxy. And now they have one of the finest stars. I hope they can go win something this year.”
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.”
