Premier League Football

Manchester United sold the world’s best player, Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid in July for a world record fee of 80m, many people have wondered what life for United would be like after the loss of such a player.

On Sunday United played Birmingham in their first competitive game since Ronaldo’s departure, and lacked the surgeon’s precision in  front of goal. Wayne Rooney was a constant threat and was linking up with Berbatov well which is a huge bonus for United and Berbatov wasn’t utilised to his full potential last year.

Portugese winger Nani seems to be the closest player to Ronaldo, his skill is obvious and there is real potential to be a world class player its whether or not he will be able to show it consistently. He is a slightly more orthodox winger than Ronaldo but has a cracking shot and seems ready to step up and fill Ronaldo’s boots, he himself has said that he will replace Ronaldo.

‘Ronaldo was a very important player for us but now my opportunity has come. ‘The time has come (for United) to put their trust in me.’ Said the 22-year-old.

The similarities with Ronaldo run deep, they are both Portguese and can both play on either wing, both of them have fantastic shooting ability, they both joined United from Sporting Lisbon. Ronaldo cost United approximately 12m where as Nani cost inbetween 14-17m in 2007.

There had been rumors that Nani was unhappy with the amount of game time he was receiving but with Ronaldo gone he knows its his time to shine.

This season Nani has been very impressive scoring a couple in the Asia tour and grabbing some assists. He started the Charity Shield match against Chelsea and did very well, scoring in the 10th minute and causing problems for Chelsea’s defense, he had to be substituted because he dislocated his shoulder.

A remarkable recovery saw him play 17 minutes for Portugal’s friendly against Lichenstein and 45 minutes against Birmingham at the weekend, where he set up Rooney’s goal and crafted a fantastic opportunity for Darren Fletcher to score after great work by Evra and himself.

United fans have seen glimpses of what Nani can do with some cracking goals against Derby, Middlesborough and Liverpool. He produced a divine performance against United’s 4-0 victory against Arsenal in the FA cup, where he scored one and set up two.

Nani’s real problem is that he is lacking consistency in his performances, however if his performances over the past couple of games are anything to go by, I believe that he will be the man to fill the void left by Ronaldo.