Jose Mourinho was presenting himself as the eloquent meritocrat. “What is the priority for a manager to choose a team?” he asked himself. “I only know one. It is the way you play. Or do you want me to go for the price they cost or their salary or their beautiful face?”
It was a way of warning his Manchester United players that they may be dropped for Wednesday night's game against Bournemouth.
If a reminder felt necessary, regardless of the numbers of changes in the starting XI, a change of policy has been required. United have too often felt a star vehicle, too in thrall to big names and fees, since Alex Ferguson retired, even if their dalliances with the rich and famous have not always been happy affairs.
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Louis van Gaal jettisoned both Radamel Falcao and Angel Di Maria. It took Mourinho's arrival for an underperforming Wayne Rooney to lose his place.
The Portuguese has spent this year so far either omitting or substituting Paul Pogba, the £89 million (Dh468.7m) man whose place in the team for Saturday's FA Cup semi-final is in jeopardy and whose position at the club next season is in doubt.
There was a time when Mourinho would not have needed to underline his status as a meritocrat. For much of his managerial career, his players have performed so consistently well that he has not needed to discuss dropping large numbers of them.
There was a point, too, when discussions about spending did not have the potential to rebound. Mourinho has a mantra: that Manchester City have spent more. His own outlay, about £300m, was, he said in December, “not enough”.
He claimed there were “no limits” to what City could spend. Last month, he talked about City having a bigger base when he criticised United’s recent lack of “football heritage”. Last week, he said City could invest so heavily to stop anyone closing the gap.
All of which implies there is an automatic relationship between spending and success. Pogba’s decidedly mixed fortunes suggest otherwise. As does Mourinho’s transfer record at Old Trafford. Eric Bailly, Nemanja Matic and Romelu Lukaku have all justified their recruitment. Zlatan Ibrahimovic excelled in his first season, though it was a mistake to re-sign him. But Alexis Sanchez has had an underwhelming start, Mourinho was quick to write off his experiment with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Victor Lindelof looks an overpriced understudy.
Managers will be judged on their signings, especially the expensive ones. Mourinho has the two costliest in Premier League history and, as he mentioned salaries, the division’s largest wage bill.
Not everything should be a comparison between Mourinho and Pep Guardiola – that leads to too much needless whataboutery – but there are certain significant differences in their expenditure.
Manchester City have targeted fewer big names, leading to less Pogba-style circuses and reducing the potential for embarrassment if such signings are deemed failures. And while Benjamin Mendy and Aymeric Laporte have played too few games for meaningful judgments to be made, only Claudio Bravo and Nolito of the Guardiola-era buys can truly be called failures, and each was comparatively cheap.
There is no talk of a clear-out at the Etihad. The same cannot be said at Old Trafford, as Mourinho's dissatisfaction shows. The team sheet will be scrutinised to see who could face Bournemouth and Tottenham Hotspur, but also who has fallen farthest from favour.
Because talk of a meritocracy does not just reflect the way the academy graduate Jesse Lingard is United’s most improved player and deserves to play ahead of costly arrivals. It reflects the sense that too many United buys are not justifying the price tag. But that, whether or not he accepts it, also reflects on Mourinho.
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
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Uefa Men's Player of the Year: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Uefa Women's Player of the Year: Lucy Bronze (Lyon)
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Goalkeeper: Alisson (Liverpool)
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Midfielder: Frenkie de Jong (Ajax)
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Uefa President's Award: Eric Cantona
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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.”
Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
