The Future Before Us....Luis Nani

Portugal is a sure destination to find quick paced, swift kicking entertaining players. From the Cape Verde Islands, transplaced into the European continent comes a 19 yr old young man that has decided to place the name Nani (Luis Carlos Almieda Da Cunha) on the back of his shirt. This youngman used to be a member of the talent breeding ground known as Sporting Lisbon. During his time at Sporting he made over 59 appearances in two seasons and scored 9 goals. Last summer he became part of a double swoop by Manchester United that brought Anderson and himself to England. This player has alot going for him. He is tall, strong, has great ball handling skills and a lethal shot. His natural position is on the left wing, but he is able to play on the right and even push upwards in a forward role. The similarities to another Portuguese Manchester United player are clearly evident. Nani and superstar Cristiano Ronaldo are both attacking midfielders that have emerged from Sporting Lisbon. They both have great dribbling skills, pace and have powerful outside shots. Sir Alex is preparing to create an offensive power on both wings using these two players.

Nani unlike his fellow team mate Anderson has not been granted a starting role in the first team. Nani also seems lack the maturity of Anderson. With this being said his raw talent makes him one to watch in seasons to come. He looks more developed physically than Ronaldo in his debut season and should be able to learn from the experiences of Ronaldo. The times Nani has been included in the team he has rarely failed to disappoint. He sometimes replaces Ryan Giggs whenever Sir Alex feels that it is necessary to inject some extra pace into his attacking line up. Nani so far has appeared in 34 games this season, scored 4 goals and has supplied his team mates with 11 assists. His goals have been quite spectacular. They include long range shots from outside the box to quick foot techniques that mesmerise goal keepers in the box. These goals are followed by an extravagant injury risking series of somersaults in celebration.

Nani's next step to perfection is to become mature mentaly. His goal celebrations and showboating of his techiniques sometimes leads to animousity from opposing players. During Manchester United's 4-0 win over Arsenal, Nani decided to perform a series of keeping up tricks that angered Arsenal's Brazilian midfielder Gilberto. Gilberto gave him a hard tackle to express his displeasure. Once Nani begins to emulate the professionalism of Ronaldo on the pitch he will truly begin to emerge into the next Portuguese attacking midfielder at Old Trafford. I believe that Nani has the ability to become as good as his counterpart or even better, however time will tell.