West Brom 0 Manchester City 3
Manchester City Toure 9', 24', Kompany 59'
Man of the match David Silva (Manchester City)
We need to talk about Kevin. We need to talk about Raheem, too.
But while Manchester City’s prospective signing and record buy could form a futuristic creative axis, assembled for the best part of £100 million (Dh572.6m), they were upstaged by the product of a previous spending spree.
Kevin de Bruyne wants to join City. Wolfsburg believe his head has been turned and, on the day it became apparent the Belgian is likelier to end up at the Etihad Stadium, the £49m acquistion Raheem Sterling made his debut. Their array of expensive, expansive attacking midfielders is increasing. If Sterling’s appeal lies partly in his potential, De Bruyne’s is evident in the statistics.
He contributed 16 goals and 27 assists to Wolfsburg’s cause last season. Yet Yaya Toure’s two goals against West Bromwich Albion served as a reminder that City already possess a statistical marvel of a midfielder. It is only 15 months since he concluded a 24-goal campaign.
Such players are rarities. They are also match-winners.
Read more:
– Wolfsburg chief expects Kevin De Bruyne to ‘entertain’ offer from Manchester City
– Raheem Sterling will be an instant success at Manchester City, says Manuel Pellegrini
An often obdurate West Brom team were overwhelmed 3-0. City were slick and classy, producing a performance of elegant authority. Toure gave them incision.
While Arsenal lost, Chelsea drew and Manchester United scarcely impressed in victory, they made much the most convincing opening statement of any of the title favourites.
First impressions count. Toure began last season under a storm; a summer of speculation, prompted by comments from his preposterous agent, Dimitri Seluk, brought questions about his attitude.
His body language was deemed evidence of a lack of commitment. The personal tragedy of the death of his brother Ibrahim was overlooked. He was criticised for failing to replicate the superlative form he showed in the 2013/14 campaign. Without impetus, he did not have the same influence.
After a summer of tranquillity, Toure has started this season rather better. Two goals inside 25 minutes, the second curled with expert precision in familiar fashion, represented the ideal opening.
His first strike required a double deflection, and David Silva is certainly entitled to claim it. If the Ivorian’s luck may be changing, his profile certainly is. Sterling’s controversial, drawn-out transfer enabled Toure to blend into the background. His May vow to stay silenced the transfer talk.
This year offers a chance to revert to being the amiable, laid-back character off the pitch, and the productive powerhouse on it, that he was in each of City’s title-winning campaigns.
Sterling may not be finisher or finished article just yet. A capacity to spring the offside trap should have brought the 20-year-old Englishman a debut goal. Instead, his shot did not have the required accuracy and Boaz Myhill extended his left hand to save.
Yet his pace brought signs of a promising understanding. Silva appreciates speedy runners. The Spaniard likes to thread passes between centre-back and full-back, looking for colleagues to dart in behind defences to then supply the crosses. Sterling obliged at times.
He has to do the running, but the Spaniard ran the game. West Brom found themselves chasing shadows. Clean-sheet specialists found their record dirtied from the off.
Tony Pulis had to change his tactics inside half an hour. Manuel Pellegrini belatedly discovered the perils of playing 4-4-2 last season. The West Brom manager reached the same conclusion when City outnumbered his side in midfield. He resorted to bringing on Claudio Yacob to man-mark Silva.
Set pieces afforded Silva some breathing space. He duly delivered the corner that Vincent Kompany headed in.
The captain, like vice-captain Toure, may have a point to prove after an underwhelming campaign last year. Each began with the air of a man determined to do just that. This may be a new era for City, but the old guard illustrated that they are not ready to be swept away by a wave of change.
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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.”
Who are the Sacklers?
The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.
Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma.
It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.
Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".
The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.
Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.
From Conquest to Deportation
Jeronim Perovic, Hurst
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Company name: Play:Date
Launched: March 2017 on UAE Mother’s Day
Founder: Shamim Kassibawi
Based: Dubai with operations in the UAE and US
Sector: Tech
Size: 20 employees
Stage of funding: Seed
Investors: Three founders (two silent co-founders) and one venture capital fund
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
