There is nowhere to hide for Wayne Rooney. Not that he would, he never has. But now he is called upon to step up and carry both England and Manchester United on his back. And if he does not do it it is hard to see who will.
At Everton, he was the wonderkid. He broke records as a teenager, just as he was supposed to. The moments of genius came, but nobody was expecting them.
He landed at United with a splash - notching a Champions League hat-trick on his debut - but he was always the sidekick.
First he was Tonto to Ruud Van Nistelrooy's Lone Ranger. And, after the Dutchman left, Cristiano Ronaldo took over for the next three seasons. Now, he too is gone.
When Rooney contemplates his teammates he cannot escape the fact that he is now The Man.
There is a talented but erratic 28-year-old Bulgarian, who has average 12 league goals a season in his Premier League career and has a tendency to disappear in big games (Dimitar Berbatov) and an injury-ravaged goalscorer whose body has enabled him to start an average of just 14 league matches since 2005 (Michael Owen). Plus, there are two 18-year-olds (Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda) and a 22-year-old who scored a single goal in 27 appearances last season in the French League (Gabriel Obertan).
Things do not get much better when he looks further back, to midfield: two guys who will be 35 and 36 respectively by Christmas (Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs), a 21-year-old Brazilian who made just eleven starts last year (Anderson) and a couple of holding midfielders (Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick).
Even less help looks to be coming from the wings, where he finds a guy signed from Wigan who has scored half as many league goals in his career than Ronaldo scored just two seasons back (Antonio Valencia), a somewhat erratic winger (Nani) and a South Korean workhorse (Park Ji Sung).
Sure, the defence is solid, but who is going to take the game by the scruff of the neck? The man in the mirror, that is who.
England do provide a better supporting cast, at least in terms of match-winners. Steven Gerrard for one, though he has saved his best performances for Liverpool, at least until now.
Frank Lampard scores plenty for Chelsea, though his ratio declines quickly once he steps into an England shirt. David Beckham can and has stepped up in an England shirt, but he turns 35 in May and, these days, is really only a threat on dead balls.
More worrying is the lack of a top-drawer strike partner. None of Rooney's colleagues up front even play in the Champions League, which tells its own story.
Fabio Capello has all but said it: unless the Gerrard we saw in Istanbul shows up and takes over, England will sink or soar in South Africa by Rooney's performances.
Pressure? He is one of those rare animals who either does not feel it or thrives on it. Otherwise he wouldn't be on the verge of breaking into the top ten of England's all-time leading scorers at 23.
His two footballing mentors, Capello and Sir Alex Ferguson, have set the table for him.
Last year, they focused on turning him into one of the greatest support strikers in the world. Rooney sacrificed himself out wide, part winger, part fullback, part creative force, supplying the front man. No more. The Rooney who would run himself into the ground at the service of others now must become the offensive terminus for club and country.
"The biggest compliment I can give him is that even when he plays badly he makes an enormous contribution," Capello says.
"Rarely do you see a man with so much ability work so hard. But now his position has changed and he'll have to adapt."
Is he ready? We will find out soon enough. What is certain is that if he comes up short it will notbe for lack of work rate. If anything, it will be for lack of a supporting cast.
Gabriele Marcotti is an expert on European football
gmarcotti@thenational.ae
My Country: A Syrian Memoir
Kassem Eid, Bloomsbury
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EWomen%E2%80%99s%20race%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E1.%20Tigist%20Ketema%20(ETH)%202hrs%2016min%207sec%0D%3Cbr%3E2.%20Ruti%20Aga%20(ETH)%202%3A18%3A09%0D%3Cbr%3E3.%20Dera%20Dida%20(ETH)%202%3A19%3A29%0D%3Cbr%3EMen's%20race%3A%0D%3Cbr%3E1.%20Addisu%20Gobena%20(ETH)%202%3A05%3A01%0D%3Cbr%3E2.%20Lemi%20Dumicha%20(ETH)%202%3A05%3A20%0D%3Cbr%3E3.%20DejeneMegersa%20(ETH)%202%3A05%3A42%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
The%20specs%20
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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.”
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
