With weeks still left in the transfer window, much of the Madrid-based media have decided already who is “Buy of the Year.” In a summer in which expectations have risen, fallen and still remain in suspense around the possible arrival of Kylian Mbappe at Real Madrid, there is absolute conviction that, come what may, the greatest marketplace coup must be the club’s purchase of Jude Bellingham.
“The Signing of the Summer,” the newspaper Marca, Spain’s top-selling daily, labels the Englishman, echoing its rival AS and clarifying: “That’s not only in Spain, but worldwide.” This in the window where Lionel Messi moved and soared immediately at Inter Miami, and where Bellingham’s compatriot, Harry Kane, joined Bayern Munich and scored on his first start for the German champions.
The impact of Bellingham eclipses theirs partly because, at just-turned 20 years old, he is a decade Kane’s junior and fully 17 years younger than Messi, who has moved, by joining an MLS club, to a less competitive league environment than the European elite divisions he commanded for so long.
It cost Madrid over €100 million to prise Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund but, from day one of his pre-season, it was clear they anticipated a sharp upward trajectory and felt ready to design a game plan around his wide portfolio of skills.
Two Liga matches into his career, Bellingham has three goals and an assist, impressive numbers for a newcomer, even more so for a midfield player, usually – and accurately – described as a “box-to-box” footballer.
At Madrid, he is asked by manager Carlo Ancelotti to steer much of his energy towards the opposition penalty box. In his last year at Dortmund, when the German club were adjusting to life after Erling Haaland, Bellingham was the club’s top scorer with 14 across competitions, his goals contributing to a sustained Bundesliga title chase, one that failed, on goal difference, only on the last day of the German season.
Goals are part of his repertoire. But so is regaining possession. On his Liga debut, at Athletic Bilbao, he introduced himself to audiences with a bold sliding tackle on Nico Williams in an all-action first half featuring his first Madrid goal, a slightly scruffy volley.
His next Madrid strike, to initiate a comeback from 1-0 down to a 3-1 victory at Almeria last weekend, was poached, in the manner of an alert centre-forward. His second goal against Almeria, a header from a deep cross, styled him as an accomplished target man.
After that double, and an assist for Vinicius Junior, Bellingham declared that, already, he feels “10 times better as a player” since he joined Madrid. His serene adjustment, says Ancelotti, is down to his “character and maturity. That and the fact he’s already played in Germany for three years have helped him adapt so well to La Liga and to our style”.
Fact is, Ancelotti is also adapting Madrid’s style to Bellingham’s strengths. This is a season of seismic transition for the 2022 European and Spanish champions, the first for 14 years they have begun without Karim Benzema, the former captain and centre-forward on the staff.
They have also been obliged to begin the 2023/24 campaign without Thibaut Courtois at the other end of the pitch, the Belgian goalkeeper having torn a cruciate ligament on the eve of the season.
At the same time Ancelotti chose to embark on this campaign without two more pillars of Madrid’s many successes over the last decade. In Bilbao, Bellingham lined up in a midfield excluding Toni Kroos, 33, and Luka Modric, 37 – they were on the substitutes' bench – and as part of a front six where Fede Valverde was the senior man, at 25 years old.
The formation used was distinct from the Ancelotti standard, more of a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield than a 4-3-3, with Bellingham pushing forward at the apex of the midfield whenever Madrid took up possession.
If Benzema has left a gap, not only as the expert finisher but as the advanced playmaker, his layoffs providing a catalyst for the quick runs in wide positions of Vinicius and Rodrygo, the precocious Brazilians, Bellingham is filling some of it.
On Friday, Madrid go to Celta Vigo, where the man plotting how to put tactical shackles on La Liga’s brilliant new Briton will be Rafa Benitez, Celta’s new coach, Real Madrid’s former boss and the strategist who, in his brief time at Madrid in 2015, left one important legacy at the Bernabeu. He established Kroos, Modric and Casemiro as a close-to-ideal trio of complementary midfielders.
The Kroos-Modric-Casemiro reign would bring four Champions League trophies to the club, and it ended only last summer with Casemiro’s sale to Manchester United. While Kroos and Modric will still have roles to play, a new Madrid midfield, designed to last, is being constructed around Valverde, Edu Camavinga, 20, and Aurelien Tchouameni, 23. And, above all, around the multi-tasking Bellingham.
The%20specs
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Jawan
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Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
The specs: 2019 BMW X4
Price, base / as tested: Dh276,675 / Dh346,800
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged in-line six-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 354hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,550rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.0L / 100km
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
More on Quran memorisation:
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Rain Management
Year started: 2017
Based: Bahrain
Employees: 100-120
Amount raised: $2.5m from BitMex Ventures and Blockwater. Another $6m raised from MEVP, Coinbase, Vision Ventures, CMT, Jimco and DIFC Fintech Fund
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
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Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
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.”
The specs
Engine: 4 liquid-cooled permanent magnet synchronous electric motors placed at each wheel
Battery: Rimac 120kWh Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) chemistry
Power: 1877bhp
Torque: 2300Nm
Price: Dh7,500,00
On sale: Now
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
'Skin'
Dir: Guy Nattiv
Starring: Jamie Bell, Danielle McDonald, Bill Camp, Vera Farmiga
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
