London // Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho denied any rift with Diego Costa despite the striker's unhappy reaction to being dropped to the bench for the scoreless draw at Tottenham Hotspur.
Mourinho admitted the pair had argued at half-time during the mid-week Uefa Champions League victory away to Maccabi Tel Aviv and Costa’s mood at White Hart Lane on Sunday suggested he had taken his demotion badly.
The Spain international failed to warm up until told to late in the game, generally looked disgruntled and at one point appeared to toss his training bib in the direction of the manager.
But Mourinho said he had no complaints about Costa’s behaviour, saying: “When I asked him to warm up, he did. I put him with Ruben (Loftus-Cheek) and Kenedy, warming up.
“Diego is very privileged because he was the last one to be on the bench. Everyone else has been: the captain (John Terry), (Branislav) Ivanovic, (Gary) Cahill, the vice-captain of England, (Cesc) Fabregas, Pedro, (Eden) Hazard, player of the season, Oscar; everyone was on the bench.
“Diego was privileged because I kept him in the team for all these matches. Today (Sunday) we thought the best strategy was this one.”
Read more Chelsea news:
[ ‘If he wants to hurt me, it’s not with a bib’ says Jose Mourinho of Diego Costa as Chelsea hold Tottenham ]
[ Greg Lea on Chelsea reverting to trademark Mourinho tactics in the absence of Costa ]
Costa struggled with hamstring problems last season, but Mourinho said there were no issues with his condition.
“Physically, he is fine,” said the Portuguese. “No problems. He is working well every day. His mood is positive. He’s always a positive guy in the team.
“I was not expecting to have a player on the bench jumping and singing because he is not playing, unless you’re a kid who has a chance to go on the bench -- Ruben, Kenedy, (who) feel that is one more step. But for a top player, they’re not happy.
“His behaviour was normal. He was ready to play when he went to warm up. When I decided not to play him, he went. And probably he is eating while waiting for us in the bus.”
The Chelsea manager joked: “If he wants to hurt me, it’s not with a bib. I have a good relationship with him, no problem.”
Mourinho described his side’s display as their best performance of the season and believes the club can now start looking up the table after a dismal start.
“If we’d scored a goal, we’d have won,” said Mourinho, whose team have now gone three games without defeat. “We still have a result and a performance and the feeling of ‘the team’.
“After these three results in a row, we can look to December -- when we have three matches at Stamford Bridge and two matches away at Manchester United and Leicester, two of the top teams -- with enthusiasm.
“I’m convinced that, by the end of December, we’ll be in a different position to now and we’ll have shortened the difference to the top teams. At the end of the season our feeling will be a different feeling.”
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino was left disappointed despite his side extending their unbeaten run to 13 league games, the club’s best run since 1985.
“This is a good thing (that we are disappointed),” said the Argentine, whose side remain fifth in the table.
“We play the champions. It’s good. You got the feeling that Chelsea were a small team, and Tottenham can win every game we play.
“It’s very difficult, though. Not easy. We’re the youngest team in the Premier League and the maturity we showed today we have shown in different games.
“We have to feel happy. It’s a good thing that, maybe, we are a bigger club than Chelsea or that we deserve more.
“We showed good performances in the last few games, and I’m happy, but we have to keep working hard. We’ve only had 14 games in the Premier League and it’s too early to think about the end (of the season).”
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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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