Not so long ago, a Juventus manager classed a trio of rising stars together as the very best strikers of their generation. Max Allegri named Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland alongside the tall Serbian, Dusan Vlahovic, in whom the Italians had just invested close to €80 million.
Suffice to report that Allegri, then in his second spell in charge of Juve, was right about two of those names. And that, as Mbappe and Haaland enter the second half of their 20s, usually the peak period for a forward, in superb form, Vlahovic has a lot of catching up to do.
Whether he even starts Wednesday’s marquee fixture, Real Madrid against Juventus, in the Uefa Champions League is in doubt, with under-pressure Juve coach, Igor Tudor, increasingly inclined to use Vlahovic off the bench for the later phases of matches.
At Madrid, Mbappe has meanwhile become essential. His 15th goal in 11 club matches so far this season made the difference again at the weekend, the late decider in a taut, gnarly 1-0 triumph at Getafe.
But every leader of the forward line needs the right allies, and Mbappe’s startling early-season form owes plenty to Arda Guler, provider of five assists for the Frenchman already, all while redefining his role in the Madrid set-up.
As for Vlahovic, he has come to learn over the past two years that the best accomplice for his centre-forward game is Kenan Yildiz.
Guler and Yildiz spent last week together with their national team, Turkey, reminding that, should the Turks make their way, probably via a play-off, to next summer’s World Cup in North America, the tournament would be enriched by the presence of two exceptional creative talents. And a pair with their best years ahead.
They are both only 20 but already assuming pivotal importance for their country and for the aristocrat clubs of Italy and Spain. Turkey have emphatically restored authority to their World Cup campaign, after a chastening 6-0 defeat by Spain last month, by scoring 10 times across two fixtures.
Their two latest victories were both galvanised by their starlets. Guler scored within 12 minutes of kick-off in Bulgaria, with an exquisitely timed run and an even more assured finish, adding two assists later in the 6-1 triumph. Yildiz scored twice, his first set up by Guler, and his second a thumping angled shot.
The Juventus player then initiated the rout of Georgia, his clever run beating the offside line – VAR was required to confirm as much – and culminating in a deft lob over the head of Giorgi Mamardashvili. That was after 13 minutes. After 90, Turkey had won 4-1.
“I don’t see many young players in Europe who are more talented than Yildiz,” Fatih Terim, the veteran coach who guided Turkey to the semi-finals of Euro 2008, told Gazzetta dello Sport, making sure to put Guler within the same bracket.
“Luckily for Turkey, we have another star in Arda Guler. When you consider they are only 20 years old, we still don’t know how far they can go.”
Well placed to see how far Yildiz has come already, and how Guler might develop is Xabi Alonso, the Madrid coach who in his four months in charge at the Bernabeu has carefully cultivated the productive Guler-Mbappe axis.
Alonso also vividly recalls seeing the precocious schoolboy potential of Yildiz, born in Bavaria, the son of a Turkish father and enrolled in Bayern Munich’s academy from the age of seven.
Xabi Alonso was in the senior Bayern midfield while Yildiz was ascending through the club’s junior levels on the way to moving to Juventus at 17.
“He’s come through fantastically,” Alonso said, ahead of Juventus’s arrival at the Bernabeu. “I remember him well from when he was at Bayern. I’m really pleased to see how well he has progressed.”
As for Guler, Alsonso was yesterday drawn to other compass points in his playing past. He likened Guler, who joined Madrid at 18 having already broken into the Fenerbahce first team, to Mesut Ozil, a teammate of Alonso’s at Real Madrid for three seasons from 2010 and briefly a Fenerbahce colleague of the younger Guler.
“It’s in the quality they have in building a move and executing the final pass,” Alonso said. “I loved playing alongside Mesut, and the more we see of Guler, the more we improve. We need to keep pushing him, but we’re very happy with him.”
At issue for Madrid with Guler, as with Juventus and Yildiz, is where best to deploy their range of skills.
Tudor is the third different coach to have pondered whether Yildiz, with his turn of pace, tricky dribbling and eye for goal from a range of distances, can have greater impact from a wide-left attacking position, or playing more centrally, as partner to a striker such as Vlahovic or one of the new signings Jonathan David or Lois Openda.
Guler has been tried in fresh roles under Alonso, often asked to operate deeper in midfield than he had been accustomed to under Carlo Ancelotti, the coach who used him sparingly during his first two seasons with Madrid.
His initiation had been disrupted by injury and overshadowed by the impact made by Jude Bellingham, who joined the club in the same summer.
But such has been Guler’s impact lately that, for Xabi, it can seem harder to leave him out than Bellingham from the starting XI. His versatility has become a forte.
While Guler is incisive, like Yildiz, from the wing, his newer role as a deeper midfielder who can set the tempo, and deliver the sorts of through balls that Mbappe and Vinicius Junior thrive on is appealing to madridistas who still miss the way Toni Kroos, who retired last year, used to exert creative control.
“It is time to invest in Arda,” said Alonso in the summer, as he set out his plans as coach. “We’ll be pushing him to gain experience, to mature as a player and make it clear that he can make mistakes on the way.”
There have been errors: a moment of carelessness to concede the lead against Marseille on Matchday 1 of the Champions League; a penalty given away in the 5-2 derby loss to Atletico Madrid. But set against that are the match-winning contributions to a series of narrow Liga victories and that very fruitful alliance with Mbappe.
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
Changing visa rules
For decades the UAE has granted two and three year visas to foreign workers, tied to their current employer. Now that's changing.
Last year, the UAE cabinet also approved providing 10-year visas to foreigners with investments in the UAE of at least Dh10 million, if non-real estate assets account for at least 60 per cent of the total. Investors can bring their spouses and children into the country.
It also approved five-year residency to owners of UAE real estate worth at least 5 million dirhams.
The government also said that leading academics, medical doctors, scientists, engineers and star students would be eligible for similar long-term visas, without the need for financial investments in the country.
The first batch - 20 finalists for the Mohammed bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinction.- were awarded in January and more are expected to follow.
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
How to play the stock market recovery in 2021?
If you are looking to build your long-term wealth in 2021 and beyond, the stock market is still the best place to do it as equities powered on despite the pandemic.
Investing in individual stocks is not for everyone and most private investors should stick to mutual funds and ETFs, but there are some thrilling opportunities for those who understand the risks.
Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, says the 20 best-performing US and European stocks have delivered an average return year-to-date of 148 per cent, measured in local currency terms.
Online marketplace Etsy was the best performer with a return of 330.6 per cent, followed by communications software company Sinch (315.4 per cent), online supermarket HelloFresh (232.8 per cent) and fuel cells specialist NEL (191.7 per cent).
Mr Garnry says digital companies benefited from the lockdown, while green energy firms flew as efforts to combat climate change were ramped up, helped in part by the European Union’s green deal.
Electric car company Tesla would be on the list if it had been part of the S&P 500 Index, but it only joined on December 21. “Tesla has become one of the most valuable companies in the world this year as demand for electric vehicles has grown dramatically,” Mr Garnry says.
By contrast, the 20 worst-performing European stocks fell 54 per cent on average, with European banks hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, while cruise liners and airline stocks suffered due to travel restrictions.
As demand for energy fell, the oil and gas industry had a tough year, too.
Mr Garnry says the biggest story this year was the “absolute crunch” in so-called value stocks, companies that trade at low valuations compared to their earnings and growth potential.
He says they are “heavily tilted towards financials, miners, energy, utilities and industrials, which have all been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic”. “The last year saw these cheap stocks become cheaper and expensive stocks have become more expensive.”
This has triggered excited talk about the “great value rotation” but Mr Garnry remains sceptical. “We need to see a breakout of interest rates combined with higher inflation before we join the crowd.”
Always remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Last year’s winners often turn out to be this year’s losers, and vice-versa.
RESULTS
Argentina 4 Haiti 0
Peru 2 Scotland 0
Panama 0 Northern Ireland 0
Day 2, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Dinesh Chandimal has inherited a challenging job, after being made Sri Lanka’s Test captain. He responded in perfect fashion, with an easy-natured century against Pakistan. He brought up three figures with a majestic cover drive, which he just stood and admired.
Stat of the day – 33 It took 33 balls for Dilruwan Perera to get off the mark. His time on zero was eventful enough. The Sri Lankan No 7 was given out LBW twice, but managed to have both decisions overturned on review. The TV replays showed both times that he had inside edged the ball onto his pad.
The verdict In the two previous times these two sides have met in Abu Dhabi, the Tests have been drawn. The docile nature of proceedings so far makes that the likely outcome again this time, but both sides will be harbouring thoughts that they can force their way into a winning position.
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.”
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Brief scoreline:
Manchester United 2
Rashford 28', Martial 72'
Watford 1
Doucoure 90'
Kill%20
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