Willian, centre, is mobbed by teammates after scoring Chelsea's second goal against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. Getty
Willian, centre, is mobbed by teammates after scoring Chelsea's second goal against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. Getty
Willian, centre, is mobbed by teammates after scoring Chelsea's second goal against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. Getty
Willian, centre, is mobbed by teammates after scoring Chelsea's second goal against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. Getty

Football

Frank Lampard backs in-form winger Willian to hit even greater heights at Chelsea

Manager praises 'low maintenance' Brazilian after his 'incredible performance' against Tottenham

The National

December 26, 2019

  • English
  • Arabic

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard believes that in-form forward Willian can push on to even greater heights at the club.

Brazil winger Willian scored both goals in Sunday's 2-0 Premier League derby win at Tottenham, much to Lampard's delight.

The 31-year-old is out of contract in the summer and has been clear for some time in his desire to stay in west London beyond the end of the campaign.

Lampard insists Chelsea's board will handle the contract negotiations, but reiterated how impressed he has been with Willian's role this term.

"He's in talks with the club, he speaks with the club on the money side of it," said Lampard.

"If there was one thing I wanted from him at the start of the season it was a question of: 'Can you score more goals because your talent says that you should do'.

"That means sometimes running into space behind defenders, and getting the other side, and he is doing all those things.

"And the experience helps when you have got a young team, when the other options are younger, experience certainly helps.

"All his team-mates love him, he's a low-maintenance player to have in the squad; so yes I am really happy with him.

"He's great for me, especially when he plays like he did the other day; it was an incredible performance."

Chelsea host Southampton on Boxing Day intent on hitting back to form on home soil, following their surprise 1-0 loss to Bournemouth that preceded the hugely-impressive win over Jose Mourinho's Tottenham.

Lampard arrived at Chelsea from Derby in the summer keen to work so closely with the talented wide man Willian.

Now he has bedded into his role as Stamford Bridge chief, Lampard believes the Brazilian can continue to push on to even greater heights.

"He has that talent; I knew he had that talent before I got the job," said Lampard.

"I think I have said this before, but the last year or two I have looked at him from afar and wasn't sure how much he was enjoying it, whether he felt happy in games. A bit of body language, in and out sometimes.

"My feeling at the start of the season was to tell him how much I feel about him and how I see him; get him fit, get him working off the ball because I know he can.

"And the rest in terms of what he does on the ball I can kind of let him do that, because he has this incredible ability to burst away from people."

Brief scores:

Liverpool 3

Mane 24', Shaqiri 73', 80'

Manchester United 1

Lingard 33'

Man of the Match: Fabinho (Liverpool)

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The Bio

Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
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Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council

Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south

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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.

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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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WHAT ARE NFTs?

     

 

    

 

   

 

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are tokens that represent ownership of unique items. They allow the tokenisation of things such as art, collectibles and even real estate.

 

An NFT can have only one official owner at one time. And since they're minted and secured on the Ethereum blockchain, no one can modify the record of ownership, not even copy-paste it into a new one.

 

This means NFTs are not interchangeable and cannot be exchanged with other items. In contrast, fungible items, such as fiat currencies, can be exchanged because their value defines them rather than their unique properties.

 
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