Under-pressure Jose Mourinho and Chelsea host Liverpool on Saturday afternoon. Charlie Crowhurst / Getty Images
Under-pressure Jose Mourinho and Chelsea host Liverpool on Saturday afternoon. Charlie Crowhurst / Getty Images

Jose Mourinho: ‘I don’t spend one second of my day thinking’ about prospect of Chelsea sack



Jose Mourinho has said he isn’t concerned about his future as Chelsea manager even if the rest of the football world is “excited” that he could be in danger of the sack.

Mourinho was given a vote of confidence by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich earlier this month after a spluttering start to their defence of the Premier League title.

That came less than two months after Mourinho had signed a contract extension until June 2019.

But Chelsea have won one game since and sit 15th in the table with five defeats in 10 games ahead of Saturday’s match with Liverpool, prompting suggestions he could be dismissed if results don’t improve immediately.

Yet Mourinho is unfazed by the sacking speculation and questioned why people are so keen to talk up his prospects of being axed.

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“I am not worried about my job. I am not worried about my future,” Mourinho said.

“I don’t spend one second of my day thinking about it.

“It looks like you (the media) want to put a lot of pressure on me in relation to that, where you can’t do it. You can’t do it.

“What I would like to understand is why some people can be so excited and happy with the perspective of somebody losing his job.”

Mourinho says his only concern is reviving Chelsea, who saw their League Cup defence end in a penalty shoot-out defeat at Stoke on Tuesday.

The three matches before November’s international break could be key, with Liverpool’s visit to Stamford Bridge followed by a Uefa Champions League clash with Dynamo Kiev and a Premier League trip to Stoke.

“I am worried about the results. I am worried about winning on Saturday. I am worried about qualifying for the next round of the Champions League,” Mourinho said.

“I am worried about recovering positions in the table and to go back to where Chelsea normally has to be.”

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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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