Paul Pogba has played just eight times for Manchester Unnited this season due to injury. AFP
Paul Pogba has played just eight times for Manchester Unnited this season due to injury. AFP
Paul Pogba has played just eight times for Manchester Unnited this season due to injury. AFP
Paul Pogba has played just eight times for Manchester Unnited this season due to injury. AFP

Graeme Souness tells Paul Pogba to 'put your medals on the table' after jibe


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Graeme Souness has told Paul Pogba to "put his medals on the table" after Manchester United midfielder claimed he did not know who his long-term critic was.

Pogba has been a regular target for Souness in the Scot's role as a Sky Sports pundit, with the France international's attitude often called into question.

The 27-year-old, whose season has been restricted to just eight appearances due to injury, said he takes little notice of the criticism and did not know who the former Liverpool midfielder was.

"I didn't even know who he was, really," Pogba told the United podcast. "I heard he was a great player and stuff like that. I know the face but [not] the name.

"Like I said I'm not someone that watches a lot of [punditry], I watch a lot of football but I don't stay after the game to listen to what they say about why they did this, or why they did that. I like to focus on football."

Souness – who won three European Cups, five league titles and three League Cups while with Liverpool – responded to Pogba on Sky Sports News on Tuesday morning.

He said: "I'm happy with that. The oldest saying in football comes to mind: 'Put your medals on the table'. I've got a big table."

Pogba won four Serie A titles and two Coppa Italias at Juventus before returning to Old Trafford in 2016 and helping United to League Cup and Europa League triumphs.

The Frenchman, also a World Cup winner with France, has not played since Boxing Day having suffered a setback following foot surgery, but that has not stopped him being a topical subject for the media.

The former Juventus midfielder has been linked with a move away from Old Trafford whenever the transfer window reopens and is often asked about his future at press conferences, despite his long-term injury.

Graeme Souness has been a regular critic of Paul Pogba while working as a pundit for Sky Sports. Getty
Graeme Souness has been a regular critic of Paul Pogba while working as a pundit for Sky Sports. Getty

Pogba takes it all on the chin for now, but admits maybe he would like to meet the people that are so critical of him.

"I guess they miss me, I don't know? I'm not someone that looks always at Sky Sports News," Pogba said of the continued attention on him.

"After the games, when I watch it again I watch the game, not the comments. When you know football, you don't need someone to tell you what's happening."

"One day maybe I will meet them [the critics] and ask them because I really want to know why. I am doing my recovery, I can be somewhere else and I hear something but I'm just doing my recovery, you know?

"If they want to speak they are allowed to speak, it's their job to speak. I am used to it now. I am really used to it, it doesn't bother me.

"It's good to hear good stuff instead of bad stuff but when you play football, you know yourself. It's what your manager and team-mates want, the rest is just talk. It's selling stuff I think."

Graeme Souness, left, with Alan Hansen and Kenny Dalglish after Liverpool defeated Arsenal 3-1 to win the 1979 Charity Shield at Wembley Stadium in London. Getty
Graeme Souness, left, with Alan Hansen and Kenny Dalglish after Liverpool defeated Arsenal 3-1 to win the 1979 Charity Shield at Wembley Stadium in London. Getty
Three ways to limit your social media use

Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.

1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.

2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information. 

3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.

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Cracks in the Wall

Ben White, Pluto Press 

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Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en

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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