England’s Jack Wilshere has revealed that he has been adapting to his new international role as a holding midfielder by studying footage of Bayern Munich’s Spanish midfield organiser Xabi Alonso.
Typically a box-to-box player with Arsenal, Wilshere has been asked to adopt a more conservative role in England’s first two Euro 2016 qualifiers – last month’s 2-0 win in Switzerland and Thursday’s 5-0 defeat of San Marino.
The 22-year-old is expected to reprise the role when Roy Hodgson’s side tackle Estonia in Tallinn on Sunday, and he will have Alonso’s example in mind when he takes to the field at the Le Coq Arena.
“I have been watching Xabi Alonso on video in the past couple of weeks,” Wilshere told journalists before flying out to Estonia with the rest of the England squad.
“He had a record number of passes in one game, 200 in one match, which is ridiculous. Watching players like him and (Andrea) Pirlo, you learn how clever they are, how intelligent they are on the ball.
“In that role it’s important you understand that if you lose the ball, the opposition are in a dangerous position to counter-attack.
“Whereas if I was playing a little bit higher, on the edge of the box, you can lose it and you have players around who can get the ball back.
“You learn how they use the ball and you learn when it’s a good time to dribble or sometimes pass. I enjoy playing that role. I enjoy getting on the ball and starting attacks.”
Wilshere’s career has been scarred by injuries since he made his breakthrough in the 2010/11 season, but after a full pre-season he has appeared in 12 of Arsenal’s 13 games to date in the current campaign.
Asked if he was in the best form of his career, he replied: “I’d say I am. As a 22-year-old, I missed a lot of football, which can be frustrating.
“But now I’m back, I’ve had a good pre-season, I’ve had a good run of about 10 games, and I’m feeling fit.”
Wilshere is one of 10 players aged 24 or under in Hodgson’s squad and with former stalwarts such as Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole having retired during the close season, he believes a new, youthful core is beginning to emerge.
“There are a lot of players who have come through the Under-21s together who are now in the seniors,” he said.
“We are good friends off the pitch and we are of a similar age. We have really worked on team spirit and I think you can see that in matches. Win or lose, we always stick together.”
He added: “Basically all the players from that ‘Golden Generation’ have now stopped playing at international level, so there’s a space for us to come in and write some history ourselves.
“We’re young, we’re eager, we want to learn, and we want to win something with England. At the end of the day, that’s the main thing.
“We want to get through this qualification and go to the Euros and really do something.”
With so many young players in the team, Wilshere said that captain Wayne Rooney – who is two matches away from a 100th cap – had a particularly important role to play.
“He’s the only one now who has been playing for England for 10 years, with the likes of Gerrard,” Wilshere said.
“He’s been through that generation. Now he really feels like he’s the dad figure. He puts his arm around us, brings us together and gets us going.”
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Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
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Saturday Sevilla v Real Sociedad (4pm), Atletico Madrid v Athletic Bilbao (7.15pm), Granada v Barcelona (9.30pm), Osasuna v Real Madrid (midnight)
Sunday Levante v Eibar (4pm), Cadiz v Alaves (7.15pm), Elche v Getafe (9.30pm), Real Valladolid v Valencia (midnight)
Monday Huesca v Real Betis (midnight)
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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