Jose Mourinho relishing the 'headache' of Dele Alli's return to his best for Tottenham

Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho is revelling in the selection headache Dele Alli's return to form is giving him.

Alli was marginalised by the Spurs boss for the first half of the season and was primed to leave during the January transfer window before the club blocked a move to Paris Saint Germain.

The 24-year-old subsequently held clear-the-air talks with Mourinho and has been reintegrated into the squad, with his biggest step forward coming in Wednesday's 4-0 Europa League win over Wolfsberger that sent Spurs through to Friday's last-16 draw after an 8-1 victory on aggregate.

Alli scored a brilliant overhead kick before laying on goals for Carlos Vinicius and Gareth Bale after the break to put himself in contention for more Premier League minutes, starting against Burnley on Sunday.

Spurs could do with Alli producing magic like that in the league as they look to arrest an alarming run which has seen them lose five of their last six games.

"These are the headaches that I love," Mourinho said. "The headaches that you don't like are the headaches of selection. Lots of people not performing. Lots of doubts, by negative reasons.

"These are the wonderful problems. But playing Sunday, and playing Thursday at Fulham, and Sunday against Palace, and playing Thursday in Europa League again, that's what I need.

"The players they need to understand this concept of team, and the intensity of matches. And if you have everybody ready or play at this level, it's the best thing to happen to the team."

With Spurs set for a gruelling schedule between now and the end of the season, Mourinho is preparing to us his entire squad.

"We have a lot to play for, we have Premier League, Europa League, we have a final (League Cup) to play so every player back is a blessing to us," Mourinho added.

"We have an incredible number of matches. Seven for us plus three in the national team are ten in March. Ten matches I believe is impossible for a football player, so when it is impossible you need to have players available for you.

"We had a problem for a month with only Ben Davies at left-back. Now we have Ben and (Sergio) Reguilon and we need to have that in every position. That's what we need because we have a lot to play for."

The Laughing Apple

Yusuf/Cat Stevens

(Verve Decca Crossover)

Specs

Price, base: Dhs850,000
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 591bhp @ 7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.3L / 100km

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.”

Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.

The specs

Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo

Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed

Power: 271 and 409 horsepower

Torque: 385 and 650Nm

Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000

Timeline

2012-2015

The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East

May 2017

The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts

September 2021

Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act

October 2021

Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence

December 2024

Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group

May 2025

The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan

July 2025

The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan

August 2025

Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision

October 2025

Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange

November 2025

180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE