Manuel Pellegrini has reinforced his view that Manchester City have more to complain about than Everton as the controversy over their League Cup semi-final rumbles on.
The City manager also claims his side could have won the tie even if Kevin De Bruyne’s contentious strike in Wednesday’s second leg at the Etihad Stadium had been disallowed.
City progressed with a 4-3 aggregate win after recovering from 3-1 down with the aid of De Bruyne’s disputed goal, which was allowed to stand despite Raheem Sterling running the ball out of play.
Everton railed at the injustice afterwards with manager Roberto Martinez describing the defeat as “hurtful and unfair” but Pellegrini felt City had been on the wrong end of more bad decisions over the two games.
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Pellegrini said: “First of all, I think the ball was just one centimetre over the line but it was very difficult for the linesman to see with the two posts, and the position of the referee cannot allow him to see if the ball is completely out or not.
"That was less of a mistake than the two penalties when he didn't whistle against Everton in the Premier League and in the first leg at Goodison Park.
“Their first goal was also offside so Everton cannot complain about one refereeing decision that was a mistake. We have more complaints but we never talk, that’s the difference.
“If that goal was not allowed because the ball was out we had another 15 minutes. We had two shots on the post, we had a lot of options and absolutely dominated the game.
“Everton had just one shot in the second half so I don’t think we are in the final because of that refereeing decision. We had more damage from the referee than Everton.
“We had 16 or 18 shots against three from Everton. I’m sure if we weren’t already winning 2-1 we could score the second goal without any problem.”
The big downside from the game from City’s point of view was the loss of De Bruyne, who also set up Aguero’s goal, late in the game with ankle and knee damage.
Pellegrini said: “He will not be out for the whole season because it’s not a cruciate ligament but we knew it was important damage. We hope he can return before, but the first diagnosis is that he will be out for eight to 10 weeks.”
The absence of £54 million (Dh282m) man De Bruyne at a crucial stage of the season will not prompt City to bring in cover before next week’s transfer deadline.
Pellegrini said: “It is not our intention to bring anyone in. The squad is doing very well so far.”
City’s victory over Everton kept them alive in four competitions but Pellegrini claims winning the quadruple remains unlikely. His immediate concern is Saturday’s FA Cup fourth-round trip to Aston Villa.
He said: “It’s not a target that we have in mind at the moment because it is not a realistic target. We have to play against Aston Villa tomorrow. If we fail tomorrow, we finish talking about that.”
Former Villa captain Fabian Delph received a hostile reception at Villa Park in November and Pellegrini accepts his midfielder will have to prepare for something similar this weekend.
He said: “I don’t think that the fans of Aston Villa will have changed their minds in one month. He’ll probably get the same reaction.”
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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.”
