Nani's Future

For my first blog I thought it would be only appropriate to blog with something relating about my first sporting team Manchester United. Having watched the Man Utd game against CSKA there is still no one more infuriating to watch than Nani. He might pop up with a screamer from the edge of the box every few months or more frequently provide glimpses of skill to beat the full back but even rarer than a Pinta Island Tortoise does he have an end product.

Although some may disagree, there is no doubting he does have talent otherwise Sir Alex would not have spent a relatively hefty sum for his talent, and unfortunately that’s all it still is, talent. The root of the problem starts with his time at Sporting Lisbon. Normally that wouldn’t have been a problem but a certain Cristiano Ronaldo was part of the youth set up and Nani soon followed him to Manchester United and this is where the problem evolved. A lot of people at United were expecting a clone maybe even Nani himself. Players like Ronaldo, Messi and Kaka cannot be copied by anyone, they are born with a God given talent and as long as they keep focused they reap the rewards.

This season was destined to be the season to be the one in which Nani steps out of Ronaldo’s shadow. The problem is, he has been immersing himself in the wrong shadow during his time at Old Trafford. The man he needs to be following is the inevitably to be knighted (Sir) Ryan Giggs. Although he doesn’t have the skill repertoire of Cristiano, he has something which is a lot easier for Nani to learn. The ability to weave between players like a slalom skier, the ability to know when to pass or when to dink your shoulder and run past the full back to whip in the cross. Now the final bit can only be done with hours of training at Carrington just like David Beckham did with his free kicks.

Nani needs to forget Cristiano and follow Ryan Giggs around like a leach before it’s late. He will not be around forever although I’m sure Sir Alex would pay most of the £80 million from the Ronaldo transfer to reverse Giggs back to a fresh faced teenager and gain nearly two decades worth of loyal service from him.

Unfortunately glimpses of talent will not cut it at United. It’s make or break this season for Nani, now without the distractions of Ronaldo he needs to understand that Giggs was the one to aspire to.

: 22 Oct 2009 15:31 |  Tags: Football Nani Sport |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem