Man Utd Live: Nani the street footballer

Premier League / Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 16 January 2012 / Leave a Comment

Nani is one of the most exciting talents in the Premier League

"For all the maturity that he now brings to his game in terms of positioning and closing down opponents, Nani remains something of a street footballer; an unpolished gem."

The sale of Cristiano Ronaldo was always going to be met with some concerns but the presence of a certain Nani in the Manchester United squad went a long way to soften the blow. Ask the tricky winger any question of your choice on Betfair Facebook...

When Manchester United sold Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid in the summer of 2009 for a world record £80 million, a few eyebrows were raised. Sure, United needed the monster fee to balance the books and the Portuguese skipper had made it pretty clear the two previous summers that he believed it was his destiny to be a Merengue at some stage of his career. But the question remained: could they afford to make do without the qualities Ronaldo brought to the table?

That's not an easy question to answer. CR7 is an outrageous talent, a new breed of footballer who combines raw natural ability with obsessive attention to detail through endless training and seems to have the athletic attributes of a super hero. He's unlucky in that he's playing at the same time as Lionel Messi because were the Argentinian not around, he would have been crowned World Football Of The Year three or four times rather than just the once.

Part of the reason Sir Alex Ferguson let his prize asset go was that he believed he had a ready-made replacement for Ronaldo already at the club. This wasn't the first time this had happened. Ferguson had sold Andrei Kanchelskis when a certain David Beckham was coming through the ranks, a few years earlier it was Lee Sharpe who was allowed to leave when it became clear Ryan Giggs was a bit special; the exit of Paul Ince coincided with the progress of Roy Keane.

In Nani, Ferguson had a forward with speed, upper body strength, aerial ability and great balance. A versatility to play in numerous positions in forward areas, a hunger to beat players with both pace and skill. A team player whose name appeared as often in the assists column as it did on the scoresheet. And finally, an entertainer who appreciated that football wasn't always just a results-business; sometimes it was meant to be fun. Sound familiar?

The latter didn't happen by coincidence. Unlike say a Wayne Rooney, who joined Everton aged nine, was destined for greatness very early on his life and was coached on tactics, positioning and team ethics from a very young age, Nani was something of a late bloomer. He was already 14 when he first joined a club with structured training meaning most of his early steps in football were played on the streets of Amadora. Here the close ball control, flicks and step-overs that make him such a delightfully unpredictable player were rehearsed and put into practice.

For all the maturity that he now brings to his game in terms of positioning and closing down opponents, Nani remains something of a street footballer; an unpolished gem. That's no bad thing in an era where footballers are often accused of having too much of the robot and too little of the free spirit in their DNA. Is he the next Ronaldo? Maybe there won't ever be a next Ronaldo. But there's no reason why in few years' time we won't be talking about United's next bright young thing as the next Nani.

To get your questions into to Michael Carrick, Ashley Young and Nani, simply 'like' Betfair Facebook's page.