Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou is refusing to publicly set targets for his team this season, insisting their focus will be on improvement and consistency.
Spurs begin their 2024/25 Premier League season with a trip to Leicester City on Monday evening, with renewed optimism of claiming a coveted place in the top four and with it, securing a return to the Uefa Champions League.
Tottenham were in contention to finish fourth last season, but a late collapse of four successive defeats saw them settle for fifth and a place in the Europa League. The London club have strengthened this summer with the arrival of England striker Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth, teenage midfielder Archie Gray from Leeds United, and French winger Wilson Odobert from Burnley.
"I go into every season with the same kind of target of trying to be successful," Postecoglou said. "The starting point for us is improvement. Improvement in our football, improvement in the consistency of our football.
"We had a decent season last year. We certainly improved on the season last year in terms of results alone. Obviously, we changed the football and we had some really good moments and some moments where we had to work really hard to get some results and probably the back end of last season was disappointing for us.
"There’s a lot in there but for us if we can get improvement in that then more consistency gives us an opportunity and a platform to try to achieve something which is what you go into every season trying to do."
Solanke, recruited for a reported £55 million to fill the void left by Harry Kane's exit to Bayern Munich last summer, is Tottenham's statement signing following a career-best 19 Premier League goals last season. Postecoglou said the 26-year-old striker is adapting well but also called for patience.
"Thankfully it is what we expected, he is a top pro, a good guy, he has settled into the dressing room really well," the Spurs manager said. "Footballing wise you can see he has the attributes that kind of fit into what we want to do really well.
"There is still an adjustment period there as we play a little bit differently and train differently and we have seen that with every new signing that comes in. So far he has fit in really well with the group and training. We still have a couple of sessions to go but so far, so good."
Welcoming Tottenham to the King Power Stadium on Monday will be Leicester manager Steve Cooper, who returns to the Premier League following his sacking by Nottingham Forest last season.
Cooper has replaced Enzo Maresca, now at Chelsea, and is back in the top flight nine months after leaving Forest.
The Welshman faces a difficult task as the promoted Leicester have a possible points deduction hanging over them while they have found it tough to strengthen their squad.
Monday night’s visit of Spurs provides a bit of symmetry for Cooper as it was a 2-0 defeat to Postecoglou’s side in December which proved his final game in charge of Forest.
“I can’t wait to get back,” Cooper said. "I think about the organisation and not myself. It’s always the club first.
"I missed the Premier League, there’s no doubt about that. I didn’t use the time to down tools. That was the last thing I wanted. I tried to use the time wisely to prepare for the next role. It’s an exciting challenge here. It’s been a good pre-season while transitioning to being a Premier League team again.”
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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.”
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Profile
Name: Carzaty
Founders: Marwan Chaar and Hassan Jaffar
Launched: 2017
Employees: 22
Based: Dubai and Muscat
Sector: Automobile retail
Funding to date: $5.5 million
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