DURBAN // Craig Bellamy remains confident that he still has a future at Manchester City despite the Premier League team bringing in three strikers worth £68 million (Dh409.4m) during the summer.
Mark Hughes has signed Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz, which has cast doubts on where Bellamy is going to fit in the Eastlands pecking order when the new season begins next month.
But the Welsh forward, who joined City in January from West Ham United for £14m, believes he will be part of Hughes' plans now that he has shaken off the knee injury that ended last season's campaign in April, having made just 11 appearances and scored four goals for his new club.
"My name is always linked in the transfer window, no matter if I've been injured for a year or whatever," he said.
"I'm one of the first ones supposedly shown the door, but that definitely ain't gonna happen.
"I'm going to fight for my place here and the manager wants me to fight for my place.
"If I was playing against Man City next season for West Ham, I would be thinking I could have been part of that, watching them play and train.
"I'm 30 now and this is my last opportunity to be at a special club. I want to concentrate on staying fit. If I'm fit I can challenge. If I ain't fit, I'm not going to challenge.
"You are not going to play great week in week out. If I do step in. I've got to make sure I'm ready, whether I come off the bench or start. If I do make my mark then I expect to be given a chance."
Bellamy, 30, believes the addition of the three strikers to the squad, is vital if City are going to be a competitive force in the Premier League this season and push on from finishing 10th last season.
"Last year we didn't have these attacking options. When I was at Liverpool, the one thing these Champions League clubs have is options," he said.
"If some games ain't going the right way you can bring on one or two players who can do something different."
City, who are owned by Sheikh Mansour, have come in for some criticism for playing large transfer fees for their acquisitions, but Bellamy defended his club and claims what they are doing is no different to that of the 'Big Four' in the Premier League - Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.
"The top four have been doing it for years. They've been paying the highest fees, they've been paying the highest wages," he said.
"You can grumble about Man City and a lot of people are saying it's not good for football. So should we just let these four stay at the top?
"This is a chance for someone like us to have a really good go. It's the best thing that has happened to football."
He adds: "We are trying to shorten the gap a bit quicker than what other clubs have been trying to do. But if you want quality players you have to pay a lot of money. We are doing it. If Chelsea or Liverpool were doing it, it's OK for them. But now Man City have done it, suddenly it's bad for football.
"But no, it's because we are outbidding the top four clubs which you are not supposed to be allowed to touch anymore.
"People cry about it, 'when is someone going to break into the top four'. But you have to spend money to be able to do that.
"If you go through United's team or Chelsea's team, they have been spending £20-30m on players for a long, long time.
"Because they can't do it at the moment and we can, so that makes us the bad guys? Far from it. It's starting to evolve now like a top club."
Meanwhile away from the Premier League, the striker has been involved with the Craig Bellamy Foundation in Sierra Leone, a project designed to encourage African youngsters to play football, while raising funds for the pverty stricken country.
As well as playing the game, the youths are encouraged to help their communities by completing tasks.
Bellamy added: "If they do projects for local villages, they get given points," he said.
"If they win a game, they do get points, but they get more points because of the projects they are doing. So they might not win a game, but because of the projects, they could win the league.
"They might not be a good football team, but that doesn't matter. They have helped the village and done as much as they can, so they have a chance to win the league."
akhan@thenational.ae
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BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
Du Football Champions
The fourth season of du Football Champions was launched at Gitex on Wednesday alongside the Middle East’s first sports-tech scouting platform.“du Talents”, which enables aspiring footballers to upload their profiles and highlights reels and communicate directly with coaches, is designed to extend the reach of the programme, which has already attracted more than 21,500 players in its first three years.
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.”
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Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
SPECS
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Teams
India (playing XI): Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami
South Africa (squad): Faf du Plessis (c), Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Quinton de Kock, Dean Elgar, Zubayr Hamza, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Senuran Muthusamy, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Vernon Philander, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Rudi Second
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million