Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane ‘has turned into an animal’ to the benefit of club and country

Andros Townsend has warned Premier League defences they will not be able to tame goal-scoring "animal" Harry Kane next season.

Kane started the season as Tottenham Hotspur's third-choice striker – but by the end of May he was known as one of the most feared young forwards in Europe.

The 21-year-old was named PFA Young Player of the Year after finding the net 32 times.

The most memorable goal in his collection came on March 27 when, just 79 seconds into his England debut at Wembley, he headed home Raheem Sterling’s cross to round off a 4-0 victory over Lithuania.

It was the perfect way to cap a fairytale season, but Townsend believes there are plenty more chapters to be written in the Harry Kane story.

Townsend thinks Kane can not only equal but better his tally next season.

“He’s had a fantastic season and hopefully next season he can take it to the next level and help us really achieve something,” the Tottenham winger told Press Association Sport.

“He had two or three players marking him in the second half of the season and he has still scored another 10 or 11 goals.

“He has the ability to do even better next season.

“It was no surprise when he scored 79 seconds into his debut. He has turned into an animal and that will benefit Spurs and England.”

Townsend has watched Kane’s progression from shy youngster to predatory scorer at close quarters.

They both played for famed youth team Ridgeway Rovers before joining Tottenham’s academy, and attended schools in Chingford just two miles apart.

Townsend’s first memory of playing alongside Kane came six years ago during the Chivas Cup in Mexico.

Despite competing against players who were two years older than him, a 16-year-old Kane found the net three times.

“He came on as sub in three matches, played 60 minutes and scored three goals,” Townsend recalls.

“It sums him up – if you give him a chance, he will score.”

A tight-knit group which also contained Steven Caulker and current England international and Spurs teammate Ryan Mason finished third.

Two years later the same group came to the public's attention when they performed their own version of Ben E King's "Stand By Me" in a cramped dressing room at Spurs' old training ground in Chigwell.

Townsend took the lead vocal while a young and shy Kane sat curled up in the corner wearing a woolly hat. The video, which went viral after being published on YouTube, summed up the team spirit among the group that played a big part in their progression from young hopefuls to England stars.

“There were a lot of shy players in there like Ryan Mason, Tom Carroll and Harry Kane who have now come out of their shells and have grown into men,” Townsend said.

Kane and Townsend will spend time together at St George’s Park this week before parting ways for the summer.

Kane will head to the European Under 21 Championship and Townsend will fly to the Republic of Ireland and Slovenia for the seniors’ final two games of what has so far been an unbeaten season.

After missing the World Cup due to an ankle injury, Townsend has had a “stop-start” season that saw him start just one league game before Christmas.

The winger featured more prominently after the turn of the year, though, and scored a stunning equaliser for Roy Hodgson’s team in Italy two months ago.

Townsend followed up the goal by tweeting a sharp riposte to Paul Merson, who had suggested the midfielder should not be in Hodgson’s squad.

The Spurs man will use that criticism to drive him to succeed for the rest of his career and he is hoping to repay the continued faith show in him by Hodgson over the next two weeks.

“There was a lot of criticism before the Italy game but I used it in a positive way,” he said. “It’s always good to answer your critics on the pitch.”

On his barb at Merson, Townsend said: “It was just a bit of banter on social media. It’s fine, there are no problems.”

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.”