Wayne Rooney's return to action means he could be in contention for Manchester United's FA Cup replay against West Ham United. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters
Wayne Rooney's return to action means he could be in contention for Manchester United's FA Cup replay against West Ham United. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters
Wayne Rooney's return to action means he could be in contention for Manchester United's FA Cup replay against West Ham United. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters
Wayne Rooney's return to action means he could be in contention for Manchester United's FA Cup replay against West Ham United. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters

Football

Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney returns to action after two month injury break

Wayne Rooney made his long-awaited return from a knee injury on Monday as the Manchester United captain featured for the club's Under-21 team after two months on the sidelines.

Agence France Presse

April 12, 2016

  • English
  • Arabic

Wayne Rooney made his long-awaited return from a knee injury on Monday as the Manchester United captain featured for the club’s Under-21 team after two months on the sidelines.

Rooney played for 61 minutes against Middlesbrough at Old Trafford in his first outing since February 13 as United manager Louis van Gaal watched from the stands.

Van Gaal had declared Rooney could “maybe” feature in United’s FA Cup quarter-final replay at West Ham on Wednesday if the England forward came through the reserve fixture without any trouble.

The Dutchman now has to decide if just over an hour’s work is enough for Rooney to prove his fitness.

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The 30-year-old forward showed a willingness to get on the ball and registered three attempts on goal, firing a long-range half-volley at Middlesbrough goalkeeper Joe Fryer before striking his other two efforts over the crossbar.

Rooney’s return for the final weeks of the season is a significant boost to van Gaal, whose side have scored just five goals in their past eight fixtures, with Ashley Young playing up front in the second half of a 3-0 defeat Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

With six games remaining, fifth placed United trail four points behind fourth placed Manchester City in the race to qualify for the Uefa Champions League via a top four finish in the Premier League.

Rooney also has the additional incentive of ensuring he is fully fit and in form as he looks ahead to Euro 2016.

The England captain will want to cement his place in Roy Hodgson’s starting line-up in France after watching Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Leicester’s Jamie Vardy continue to impress for club and country while he has been sidelined.

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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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