Former Manchester United winger Nani is now playing football in a seventh different country, and could make his Melbourne Victory debut against his former employers...CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
When Manchester United take on Melbourne Victory on the second step of their pre-season tour, a familiar face could be lining up for the opposition.
Just seven years have passed since Nani left Old Trafford for good, but he’s fit in a lot during that time.
Victory represent his seventh club and sixth country since ending his spell in England, and at 35 years of age he has no plans to call it a day.
When he joined United 15 years ago, Nani started out living with teammate Cristiano Ronaldo.
His compatriot won’t be involved in the pre-season friendly for family reasons, and may have played his last game for the club, but the pair have taken very different paths before reaching the point where their respective sides get to play each other on the other side of the world.
Like Ronaldo, Nani cut his teeth at Sporting CP, breaking into the first team in Lisbon as a teenager. The pair were already international teammates before joining up at club level, but soon they were housemates as well.
“At the start I was supposed to move into a hotel, but Jorge [Mendes] asked me, ‘Would you mind staying with Cristiano?'” Nani recalled in an essay for The Players’ Tribune. “Jorge was his agent, too, and Cristiano was living alone.
So I moved in with him and Anderson, who had just arrived at Man United.
“What a time it was. We were all young lads who spoke the same language, and we had so much fun.
Cristiano had a swimming pool, a Ping-Pong table, a tennis court — and every day we would compete at something.
“That’s what it was like with Cristiano. He could never accept losing. Never! But we loved that about him, and we learned a lot from him.
By the time Anderson and I left that house, we had become allergic to defeat, too!”
While their time together in Manchester was a fruitful one, with back-to-back league titles and Champions League glory, Nani wasn’t always on Ronaldo’s good side.
Indeed, his involvement in a game between Portugal and Spain, where he ruined his teammate’s attempted solo goal by heading the ball over the line from an offside position, continued to provoke questions years later.
Ronaldo wasn’t able to hide his anger at the moment, perhaps showing how important every single goal is to the former Real Madrid forward. However, Nani would eventually give his side of the story in 2019.
“There’s no excuse, because after I saw that I thought ”what a mistake I made’,” Nani told Oh My Goal. “I killed such a beautiful goal, one of the most beautiful goals.
“But I think Cristiano doesn’t need that goal. He had so many, he can choose.
“The explanation I gave to Cristiano… I said yes, that was wrong.
I should have put my head back or something, but I was so excited [and] everything went so fast. I told him sorry because no one wants to destroy a beautiful moment like that.”
If Ronaldo’s return to Old Trafford in 2021 was only potentially sparked by unfinished business, Nani was much clearer in his stance.
The winger played just once under Louis van Gaal – an appearance from the bench in the Dutchman’s first Premier League game – before making a temporary and then permanent exit, but he still had his regrets five years on.
“I’ll tell you the truth, it will never be the same after leaving Manchester United to play for another club,” he said in 2020.
“As a club, as a structure, the quality, everyone knows that I’m not offending anybody. Man United is Man United, all over the world.”
Since leaving for good in 2015, Nani has played his club football in Turkey, Spain, Italy, Portugual and the United States.
He returned to Serie A last term for a brief stint at Venezia, but his next challenge will see him link up with a number of Australian internationals – including manager and former Crystal Palace defender Tony Popovic.
“I have spoken with the coach, Tony, and I know that Melbourne Victory is a Club that wants to achieve success and I want to play a role in helping the team achieve that,” Nani said upon signing.
“From what I have seen, the fans in Melbourne are not only the best in the league but they rival the atmosphere in Europe and I’m looking forward to being a part of that on the field in a Victory shirt and playing for them this season.”
Nani has already been spotted in training sessions as he gets to grips with his new teammates.
However, he’ll have little trouble getting up for Friday’s game, with a chance to show his old employers there’s life in the old dog yet.
