The Manchester United winger has not had a good game for months- has injury been blighting his form or is that an excuse?
A lot has happened already this year in football, Liverpool have won a trophy, Fabio Capello has resigned as England boss, and Chelsea have sacked another manager.
As for what hasn’t happened, Fernando Torres has failed to score a goal, and Manchester United winger Nani is yet to put in a standout performance.
Torres’ woes have perhaps been expected considering his woeful 2011, but Portuguese winger Nani’s slowdown has been more perplexing, albeit not in the same stratosphere as the Spaniard.
This time last year he was a strong contender for Player of the Year, whereas when the nominations are announced in a few weeks, it would be a surprise if he was on the shortlist.
It is not that he has been truely woeful, in fact he has had flickers of a promise of a return to form, with an assist away to Tottenham for Ashley Young’s first, but he is yet to have a game since the turn of the year that he has stamped his authority on.
The last time Nani really turned it on was in the 5-0 demolition away to Fulham in mid-December, and the 4-1 home win over Wolves two weeks before that in which he netted twice.
His performances of late may have had the odd twinkle, but by and large he has been inconsistent, misplacing passes, choosing the wrong option, and shooting with little accuracy.
He missed three games at the end of January, start of February with an ankle injury, but apart from that has remained involved throughout the season.
The reason his malaise has gone almost unnoticed was because Antonio Valencia’s scintillating form was pulling United through matches, while Ashley Young has stepped up of late in his absence.
Nani missed the West Brom game again with injury, and United would be best advised to let him rest and recover properly.
The injury is likely a large contributing factor to his form, if he has been playing through it for weeks. After such a successful season as last year it was always going to be so hard to meet the same high standards again, but United will hope when he comes back from this brief lay-off he will be back to his best.
This is the point of the season where the club will look to kick on and put the pressure on City, and fans will expect Nani to play a big role in that.
He is reported to have signed a new contract worth around £160,000 a week; the club will certainly want their money’s worth between now and the end of the season.
image: © notsogoodphotography
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