Harry Kane ‘wants to finish the job that he has done’ with England at European Under-21 Championship

Roy Hodgson has played down suggestions that Harry Kane will be exhausted by June and claims the young Tottenham forward is determined to go to the European Under-21 Championship.

Kane has enjoyed a successful maiden spell with the England seniors over the past week, scoring 79 seconds into his debut against Lithuania before putting in a decent display against a tough Italian defence in Turin.

Hodgson is happy to pass Kane back to the under-21 squad for the next international get-together in June so he can gain some valuable experience of tournament football.

– Mauricio Pochettino puts faith in his young guns at Tottenham Hotspur

After playing 43 games for Spurs this year, the north London club fear the 21-year-old will be exhausted by the time the Euros come around, but the England manager says he will have to get used to long seasons if he wants to wear the Three Lions for years to come.

“I’ve got to say I’m not a great lover of the burnout argument,” Hodgson said.

“If you want to be an international player then you’ve got to accept football tournaments take place in the summer at the end of the season.

“In my lifetime, as soon as the season has finished, footballers have gone to tournaments so basically that’s something that anyone who wants to be a top-class international footballer, and really believes he can help his country get to these tournaments, can’t then come and talk about burnout.”

Kane only conducted a couple of brief interviews during the international get-together so there was no opportunity to ask the striker whether he was interested in going to the tournament in Czech Republic, which runs from June 17-30.

But Hodgson maintains the player is very interested in dropping down to the under-21s for the tournament.

“Harry wants to go with the under-21s,” Hodgson said of Kane, who has scored eight goals in 10 appearances for the Young Lions.

“He wants to finish the job that he has done.

“He has been a major part of their qualifying campaign for the last 18 months.

“He’s had to work his way into the team and in my conversations with him it has been pretty obvious to me he would like to play in this tournament.

“Harry can play an important part and maybe help them go far in the tournament. That certainly won’t hurt his chances in the first team and I am happy to back him.”

Hodgson will allow England Under-21 manager Gareth Southgate to choose any eligible player he wants for the competition.

The likes of Ross Barkley, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Raheem Sterling are not expected to be selected, but Kane, Luke Shaw, John Stones and Calum Chambers - all of whom have played for the senior side - could feature.

“I understand there’s been an argument or debate about (fully capped players going to the tournament) and that is one for Gareth to sort out,” Hodgson said.

“If Gareth wants to pick Kane, that is fine by me.

“He is going to be important for Gareth.”

Hodgson and his assistant Ray Lewington aim to watch five games at the tournament, but they do not plan to stay there as they do not want to be a distraction.

“This is Gareth Southgate’s tournament. He doesn’t want me hanging around the hotel day-in, day-out,” Hodgson added.

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War 2

Director: Ayan Mukerji

Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana

Rating: 2/5

The President's Cake

Director: Hasan Hadi

Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem

Rating: 4/5

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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.”