At the equivalent stage last season, Nani was playing a crucial role in United’s march to Premier League and Champions League success.
The livewire Portuguese winger played an important part in seeing off Lyon, Roma and Barcelona in the knockout stages of 2007/08’s European Cup campaign, and although he received his marching orders in United’s final home match of the season – a 4-1 romp against West Ham – he headed for Euro 2008 having impressed many eminent observers in his first full season in English football.
Former United winger Gordon Hill was among them. Hill is a man who knows his wide men, spending three seasons getting chalk on his boots at Old Trafford, scoring more than 50 goals and helping the Reds to 1977 FA Cup final victory against Liverpool. Now living in Dallas, Hill sees much of the old-fashioned winger in Nani, but believes that the 22-year-old needs to become a more reliable source of creativity if he is going to build upon his impressive first campaign.
“When you get a good winger,he’s worth his weight in gold,� Hill told United Review. “Nani has fantastic ability – he has pace and can score spectacular goals. But what he’s lacking at the moment is that consistency to torment full-backs week-in, week-out.�
That reliability was Hill’s stock-intrade, as he and a young Steve Coppell gave top-flight defenders sleepless nights in the mid to late-1970s. However, he acknowledges that the Premier League today is very different to the First Division that he and the current Reading boss knew back then.
“When I was at Old Trafford, the manager [Tommy Docherty/Dave Sexton] used to pick a team from a core of 12 or 13 players,� says Hill. “Now Sir Alex has a squad of more than 30 to choose from. The benefit of this is that players like Nani will be relatively fresh if they’re called on as the season draws to a close. The downside, though, is that as a young player if you don’t do the business when you’re called up, you could be back on the bench and have to wait a while for your next opportunity to come along.�
Nani has reserved his best performances in United colours this season for cup competitions, with his sole league goal coming in the Reds’ 4-0 home demolition of West Brom back in October. Hill, however, believes there’s more to come from a player who’s still learning his craft, and will hopefully reproduce the form he showed this time last term.
“This educational period will be well spent, and as a young player he couldn’t be at a better club,� says Hill. “He has to work hard to remind the manager that he’s capable of doing a great job for United. When I’ve seen him recently he has tended to drift in from the right wing, but he needs to stay out wide and really get at his defender. He’s an artist – he can create goals and score them, too. He just needs to do it on a more regular basis.�
gold price is approx. 19k per kg....
so the price is about right