Story Of One Who Won Everything But Left Unfulfilled (Nani).

                                     

Luis Carlos Almeida da Cunha better known as Nani is a Cape Verdean born Portuguese player who is most famous for his time at English giants Manchester United. In the summer of 2007, after the gamble on Christiano Ronaldo paid off, then coach Sir Alex Ferguson raided the Portuguese League and paid a whopping €25 million for the then 21 year old from Sporting Lisbon.

Shocking is an understatement of what football fans felt, when it was confirmed that after spending six years at Manchester United, and never really living up to his potential, Nani was set to join Turkish football giants Fenerbahce. This is no insult to Turkish football but with no Turkish team having reached the second round of the 2014/2015 champions league, it was like Nani chose the easy part for am early retirement in Turkey.

Nani's case is quite different from Robin Van Persie who also moved to Fenerbahce because unlike Nani, the Dutch man fulfilled his potential though he did not win much trophy. Last season, Nani went on a season long loan to Sporting in a deal that brought Marcos Rojo to United.

Nani was known for individual brilliance, step-over, ball control and accurate long range shooting. He was once at a point compared with club legend and compatriot Christiano Ronaldo and was excused by the fans with being too young to show enough consistency. It was after the departure of Ronaldo that Nani stepped up his game in 2010/2011 season. That season, Nani played 31 matches with 14 assists and nine goals. He went on to win the "Players Player of the Season" award and lost by only one vote to Javier Hernandez as the "Fans Player of the Season" as United won a record breaking 19th league title. That was the last time fans saw the best of Nani as the next season he slipped off the starting XI never to reclaim it again till he left.

Even on the international scene, Nani has failed to replicate his best form, blowing hot and cold. It was difficult to know what to expect from Nani at any given time.

Nani will be remembered as a "Near Man" at Manchester United as he leaves. He played 230 games scoring  40 goals with his best being the individual goal at Arsenal in  2010 en-route to United winning the league title that season. Nani though leaves United with lots of trophies including Champions League, FA Cup and the Premier League, but it is sad and disappointing that the English premier league never saw the best of him.