Nani may not be enjoying his best form, but is it right for Manchester United supporters to wish him to be sold?
Nani. What a player, on his day at least. When it comes to the big games over the past 12 months he has not turned it on as he did a season earlier.
His up and down form has manifested in him no longer being an automatic choice, and speculation over whether he could leave the club with question marks over his next contract.
We ran an article on HITC Sport on Friday asking ‘Where has it all gone wrong for Nani at Manchester United?‘ – and the comments left were less than complimentary about the winger.
1- “He will do an enormus favor to the club if he decides to leave. I always think that he is the one who likes to be a one man show rather than playing for the team. How could an experienced coach like Sir AF could be blind to not see that Nani does not fit anymore in MU?”
2- “Nani seems not relevant for the people’s team if his performance is anything to go by. Football is about goals.”
While on Twitter after the Everton game there were kneejerk comments like: “Nani is easily our worst player. We need to sell him” / “I think we should sell Nani he worries about being fancy more then winning” / “I wonder when ferguson will see that nani will never get any better and should sell him!”
Obviously after any below par performance a player is going to cop criticism, but surely Nani has earned some patience from the fans at Old Trafford? While it is difficult to gauge a genuine supporter opinion of the player- and we will attempt to in our poll – clearly he is presently dividing opinion.
The 2010/11 season in which he scored nine times and provided 18 assists was quite incredible for him, and his attempts to follow up were hampered by injury. But what that season showed is quite what he is capable of, and supporters should be patient with him as he attempts to recapture that form.
It is not his fault Sir Alex Ferguson dropped an in-form Valencia to put Nani in for last season’s title decide against City when he was out of form, even though the decision backfired and drew ire from fans.
When he works through his loss of form and gets back to his best, United will have a real player on their hands. Who are they going to sign in his place? The club were linked with Colombian James Rodriguez of Porto this summer, but how do fans know he will settle in the Premier League if he were signed? They don’t.
Right now criticism of Nani may be justified, supporters don’t like to see a player performing below his best, but he has shown loyalty to the club so far in (a) wanting to sign a new contract and (b) looking to even take a wage drop to do so.
So giving him a verbal kick up the backside to get him to improve sounds fair, but wanting him to be sold sounds too harsh, OTT, and too kneejerk to us, for a player who was arguably the best in the Premier League just 12 months ago.
Of course for every fan who wants him sold, there could be five who want him to stay. Let’s have a look at how United fans really feel about the Portuguese winger in our poll.
What do you think United should do with Nani?
What should United do with Nani?
image: © gordonflood.com
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