Chris Smalling believes defenders' rough treatment of Radamel Falcao has accounted for the Colombian's failure at Manchester United.
The striker has only scored four goals in 29 games during a season on loan at Old Trafford and while United are yet to confirm they will not take up their option to buy him for £43 million (Dh244.7m), it would rank as a major surprise if they were to re-sign him.
Falcao had scored 155 goals in 200 club games for FC Porto, Atletico Madrid and AS Monaco before arriving in England.
“I think with his record, he’s a marked man,” United centre-back Smalling said. “He does get kicked a lot in every game and it’s because of what he’s done in the game. His training performances have been terrific and on Sunday he was running in behind as the manager wanted. On another day he could have scored a few more goals.”
Falcao has failed to score in his last 13 appearances for United and has never recaptured the form he displayed before suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury playing for Monaco in January 2014.
But Smalling believes the 29-year-old can return to his best, adding: “I think when the manager has given him a chance and he’s trained well and he’s stayed fit, you can see he is getting sharper and sharper and with a good pre-season he’ll be firing again next season.”
Falcao has had a stop-start season at Old Trafford and Smalling feels that has hindered him, explaining: “He’s had a couple of injuries on the way, and with every player that means you don’t get the consistency of being able to train every week. It affects your flow, especially with strikers who need a run of goals to set them off.”
While Falcao’s career has declined, Smalling has experienced an upturn in his fortunes of late, cementing his place in the team, earning a new four-year contract and being awarded the United captaincy for Sunday’s draw with Arsenal.
“It was a big honour,” said the 25-year-old. “It was a proud moment for me.”
He was granted the armband with Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick injured and an ill Robin van Persie only on the bench, but it was a sign of a new-found seniority after Ryan Giggs retired and Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra and Darren Fletcher all left.
“This season, some of us have had to step forward, especially with some of the older players leaving so it’s nice that it’s being recognised,” Smalling added. “I think (my game) has progressed well in that we’ve done a lot of work on the field and have been given a lot of responsibility going forward as a unit.”
United have cemented a top-four finish but Smalling admits that should not be satisfactory for them. “It’s not. It’s not a season where we’re massively celebrating. It’s a step. Next season we know that won’t be good enough.”
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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
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Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Ed Harris
States of Passion by Nihad Sirees,
Pushkin Press
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Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
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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.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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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
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