Sam Allardyce is ready to unleash Enner Valencia in the English Premier League – starting with Hull on Monday night.
The 25-year-old is one of nine new recruits at West Ham but Ecuador’s World Cup goal-getter has yet to start for the club in the league.
Allardyce has used him sparingly following his efforts in Brazil, although he did play every minute of the second round League Cup exit to Sheffield United – missing the penalty which ultimately saw the League One side prevail.
After once again travelling away with Ecuador during the international break, he scored in a 4-0 win against Bolivia and played the full 90 minutes in a 1-0 loss to Brazil.
Now he returns to a West Ham side still missing injured club-record signing Andy Carroll and Allardyce could pass the goalscoring responsibilities to the former Pachuca man.
“Yes, I think so,” he said when asked if Valencia was ready to start at the KC Stadium.
“He’s ready to get the opportunity to go and play. He scored against Bolivia and hopefully he will start scoring for us very shortly.
“It will be great once he gets out there and produces what he did at the World Cup. It’s the goal threat we really need more of this season.
“He’s one of our major signings and we hope he is going to be very successful.”
With Carroll absent and only Carlton Cole as back-up, Allardyce strengthened not only with Valencia but with Mauro Zarate and Diafra Sakho – who have both got off the mark since their summer arrivals – and the manager is excited with his options.
“Sakho, Valencia, Zarate and Carroll is a good variation for me to start selecting from,” he said. “Then there is competition for places.
“How do you keep the position? By doing what we expect and that’s contributing in the build-up as well as in the critical position of finishing the chances we create. We want to get to 50 goals this year.
“We need these players that we bought to produce the goals at this level like they have produced elsewhere.”
Monday’s opponents Hull have also been busy in the transfer market, with West Ham’s Mohamed Diame added on deadline day.
Valencia is ready to take on the new-look Tigers after another chance to link up with his international teammates.
“We had two games in America over the week and they were both of high intensity,” he said.
“It was good to play again after some weeks of not playing full games. It’s good to get minutes to get fit, to get my match fitness back as soon as possible and then show that for West Ham.
“It’s a very important game for the club. I’m ready to play if the manager wants me to. It will be a tough game but an important one for us to keep earning points and moving up the table.”
“All the teams are very strong in the Premier League this season, no matter who they are. They made some good signings over the summer, but the most important thing is that we focus on ourselves and try to take the three points back to London.”
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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.”
