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In the summer of 2007, I only had two players on my wish list in addition to Owen Hargreaves - Fernando Torres and Nani.
While the capture of both Anderson, as well as Carlos Tevez were a nice surprise, it was the capture of Nani that had me really smiling.
Now, hoever, I'm not sure if my enthusiasm was warranted.
During that summer, Sir Alex and Carlos Queiroz chose not to move for other good left wingers that were avilable like Martin Petrov, Ryan Babel, Flourent Malouda and Franck Ribery, because they had decided to move for Nani.
To me this signaled incredible belief in the youngster.
Nani went on to have the best season out of the left wingers that joined the premiership that summer and also had the most impact on his team, which led to the Premier League and Champions League double.
Even though Nani did make a lot of telling contributions, a lot of fans rightfully had several complaints about Nani, not least of which were his team work and maturity.
Now, regardless of whether or not Nani becomes the player we hope he can and the player his talent should allow him to becomes, I get the feeling that he does not intend to stay at Old Trafford for the long haul.
Along with Anderson, Nani enjoys a close friendship with Ronaldo and when Nani arrived at OT, his intial interviews had a lot of references to "the best player in the world".
When Ronaldo finally leaves, how happy will Nani and Anderson be to stick around without their ring leader?
I don't have a crystal ball, but it doesn't take a big leap of imagination to deduce that without Ronaldo's presence, Nani would be inclined to leave soon after.
In addition, Nani is not a left-footed player and always needs to adjust his body to put in a cross. He is very fast, but his acceleration is actually not that great, so it needs a couple of yards to really get going and instead of using his pace to get past players when he finally is full stride, his natural style is to stop and try to pull some flashy trick.
For these reasons, I do not think that Nani will or can be our long-term solution on the left wing. It is still early days and he will be here for a few seasons yet, but I think it would prudent management to start looking seriously at some left-footed wingers.
Park Ji-Sung can do a good job on the left, but i would say he is more of a tenacious midfielder than a winger, who can run the flanks and whip in a cross.
In general, good left wingers seem to be in rather short supply, so I'd be interested to see who you guys think can be the long-term replacement of Ryan Giggs.
Do you think Nani will prove me wrong and stay - long after Ronnie has left?
Will he develop into a world beater or will he be an expensive flop?
Who do you think are the best left-footed wingers in the game, who are realistic targets and would love to ply their trade at OT?
While the capture of both Anderson, as well as Carlos Tevez were a nice surprise, it was the capture of Nani that had me really smiling.
Now, hoever, I'm not sure if my enthusiasm was warranted.
During that summer, Sir Alex and Carlos Queiroz chose not to move for other good left wingers that were avilable like Martin Petrov, Ryan Babel, Flourent Malouda and Franck Ribery, because they had decided to move for Nani.
To me this signaled incredible belief in the youngster.
Nani went on to have the best season out of the left wingers that joined the premiership that summer and also had the most impact on his team, which led to the Premier League and Champions League double.
Even though Nani did make a lot of telling contributions, a lot of fans rightfully had several complaints about Nani, not least of which were his team work and maturity.
Now, regardless of whether or not Nani becomes the player we hope he can and the player his talent should allow him to becomes, I get the feeling that he does not intend to stay at Old Trafford for the long haul.
Along with Anderson, Nani enjoys a close friendship with Ronaldo and when Nani arrived at OT, his intial interviews had a lot of references to "the best player in the world".
When Ronaldo finally leaves, how happy will Nani and Anderson be to stick around without their ring leader?
I don't have a crystal ball, but it doesn't take a big leap of imagination to deduce that without Ronaldo's presence, Nani would be inclined to leave soon after.
In addition, Nani is not a left-footed player and always needs to adjust his body to put in a cross. He is very fast, but his acceleration is actually not that great, so it needs a couple of yards to really get going and instead of using his pace to get past players when he finally is full stride, his natural style is to stop and try to pull some flashy trick.
For these reasons, I do not think that Nani will or can be our long-term solution on the left wing. It is still early days and he will be here for a few seasons yet, but I think it would prudent management to start looking seriously at some left-footed wingers.
Park Ji-Sung can do a good job on the left, but i would say he is more of a tenacious midfielder than a winger, who can run the flanks and whip in a cross.
In general, good left wingers seem to be in rather short supply, so I'd be interested to see who you guys think can be the long-term replacement of Ryan Giggs.
Do you think Nani will prove me wrong and stay - long after Ronnie has left?
Will he develop into a world beater or will he be an expensive flop?
Who do you think are the best left-footed wingers in the game, who are realistic targets and would love to ply their trade at OT?