When Nani is at his best there a few players better than him in world-football. Consider his gun-ho performance in Manchester United’s 5-0 demolition job of Fulham back in December, or his two goals and overall performance in the 4-1 victory against Wolves. In fact, when Nani’s at his best he seems to perk up the rest of his team-mates and lead this Manchester United side onto big victories with massive margins. That’s probably the reason why United won their 19th Premier League title last season – Nani was on song in pretty much every game he featured in and was a strong contender for Player of the Year.
The trouble is that Nani hasn’t been at his best for a long time and has had a pretty disappointing 2012. Nobody was expecting him to repeat the wonders of last season, but I don’t think it’s unfair to expect more from the 25-year-old – especially if the reports that he’s on a contract worth £160k a week are true. Like Nani himself said in an interview with The Sun: “Grab the opportunity, don’t go back”.
He also claimed that he wants to be considered amongst the top five players in the world, noting that he has “the qualities, the power, the mentality, I am very professional.” Unfortunately, he seems some way off this at the moment.
It’s not like he has been awful in any manner or form – he’s just struggling to stamp his authority onto games and doesn’t seem to be his usual effervescent self. So what gives?
The hope will be that this dip in form is temporary (Nani’s form often seems to fluctuate across the course of a season) and that things will soon pick up. But what will it take to make it happen?
It’s clear that his ankle injury has affected him and that he has been unable to play with the same flexibility and freedom that he was prior to the turn of the year. Is he attempting to play through his injury? Perhaps what Nani really needs is some R&R. A chance to unwind and recuperate. Surely United would prefer to have limited access to Nani at his best instead of full access to Nani in his current state.
When Antonio Valencia is fit, the best move may be to bench Nani and make him fight for his place. Valencia and Young have enough in their engines to deputise down the wings and have enough ability to help United onto their 20th Premier League title.
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Its not about Nani, its about incompetence. Stupid article. When a player does not get to play, its always a dip in form, its never a bad management decision. Propaganda article.