Manuel Pellegrini said it was “strange” Sergio Aguero has never been player of the year in England after the Manchester City striker’s hat-trick secured a 3-0 win at Chelsea on Saturday.
Despite being one of the Premier League’s most consistent goalscorers in recent seasons, Aguero has yet to win either the Football Writers’ player of the year award or the equivalent honour from his peers in England’s Professional Footballers’ Association.
Aguero failed to make this week’s shortlist for the 2016 PFA award.
It didn’t seem to bother him as counter-attacking strikes either side of half-time, plus a penalty 10 minutes from the finish at Stamford Bridge after Chelsea goalkeeper Thibault Courtois was sent off for a foul on Fernandinho, took the Argentina striker’s tally to 21 league goals so far this season.
“It’s very strange that Sergio has played so many years here and has never been the best Premier League player here,” Pellegrini said after a win that saw City stay four points clear of local rivals Manchester United in the race for a place in next season’s Uefa Champions League.
“I think here, in the Premier League, we have very good players but without doubt Sergio is one of the best and so important.”
More from Premier League:
Richard Jolly: Rotterdam to Rotherham: Aston Villa's humiliation complete, thanks to mediocre Man United
Greg Lea: Kevin de Bruyne shows what former employers are missing as Manchester City crush Chelsea
Diego Forlan column: Pochettino fits at Spurs, but capable of rising to a Man United or Real Madrid challenge
Kevin de Bruyne was central to all of City’s best moves, setting up the first goal in what was his first league appearance at Stamford Bridge since Chelsea sold him to Wolfsburg in January 2014.
But rather than De Bruyne, who scored in the midweek Champions League quarter-final win over Paris St Germain wanting revenge, Pellegrini said City were keen to atone for their 5-1 FA Cup defeat by Chelsea in February when he effectively fielded a youth team.
“He (de Bruyne) played very well, but when you have all your best players playing together, the team’s performance is better. We wanted revenge for the FA Cup, losing 5-1 here.
“He left Chelsea because he wanted to play in Germany, but seeing him play like that shows why we got him here.”
Chelsea caretaker manager Guus Hiddink was equally impressed with de Bruyne.
“He’s a beautiful player to see. He’s very keen to play between the lines. All their (City’s) players are.”
Chelsea’s hopes of mounting a successful defence of the Premier League title had evaporated when Hiddink was summoned for his second temporary spell in charge of the London club in December following the sacking of Jose Mourinho, and the reigning champions languish in 10th place.
“Yes, it’s a difficult defeat,” Hiddink said. “But 0-3 seems and is high, but it’s not that we were outplayed. We were outplayed by smartness, on the three counters.
“The defeat was high, deserved, but not that negative to be desperate.”
Hiddink rejected suggestions of a lack of fight in the Chelsea side, with many players notionally playing for their futures ahead of the arrival of incoming coach Antonio Conte.
“I don’t fully agree with that,” Hiddink said. It’s difficult if you’re up against a very intelligent team.
“We had some half-chances and there was no lack of fighting spirit, but it’s difficult when they play around you. They’re difficult to grab and get into duels. We did sometimes, but, once more, we have to respect the quality of the opponent.”
Pellegrini said that while he might make changes for Tuesday’s Premier League match against Newcastle United, he planned to keep the bulk of the side together ahead of City’s Champions League semi-final first-leg at home to Real Madrid on April 26.
“I spoke with the players two weeks ago before we played PSG that the best way to arrive playing against a difficult team like Paris is to play well in the Premier League,” Pellegrini said.
“In this moment, I think the same ahead of Real Madrid. We need these points to reach the Champions League again.”
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
WITHIN%20SAND
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Moe%20Alatawi%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Ra%E2%80%99ed%20Alshammari%2C%20Adwa%20Fahd%2C%20Muhand%20Alsaleh%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Match info
What: Fifa Club World Cup play-off
Who: Al Ain v Team Wellington
Where: Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
When: Wednesday, kick off 7.30pm
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh132,000 (Countryman)
Company%C2%A0profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ELeap%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMarch%202021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ziad%20Toqan%20and%20Jamil%20Khammu%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Undisclosed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeven%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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.”
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3ECompany%20name%3A%20Znap%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarted%3A%202017%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EFounder%3A%20Uday%20Rathod%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EBased%3A%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EIndustry%3A%20FinTech%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EFunding%20size%3A%20%241m%2B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EInvestors%3A%20Family%2C%20friends%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
