Without
wishing to disrespect football in Turkey, there are generally two
reasons why players from the big European leagues tend to head east.
They
are either at the end of their careers and seeking to extend their time
playing at a reasonably high standard or they go there seeking wages
they may not be offered elsewhere.
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| Nani Undergoing Medical |
Manchester United winger Nani, who at the age of 28 should be in his peak years, would appear to fall in to the latter category.
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Nani waves to the crowd as he makes his way through Sabiha Gokcen
Airport ahead of his £3.5m move to Turkish giants Fenerbahce from
Manchester United NANI'S RECORD AT MAN UNITED
2007-08 41 games, 4 goals
2008-09 31 games, 6 goals
2009-10 34 games, 6 goals
2010-11 49 games, 10 goals
2011-12 40 games, 10 goals
2012-13 21 games, 3 goals
2013-14 13 games, 1 goal
This
is one of the problems of playing, and failing, at Old Trafford. If
things don’t work out and your reputation heads south then it can be a
struggle to move on if you are not prepared to take a cut in salary.
Turkey, in Nani’s case the great Istanbul club Fenerbahce, often appears
as a handy get-out.
In
Turkey for a medical on Monday ahead of a proposed £3.5m transfer, Nani
will perhaps be relieved that his largely unsuccessful time at United
is at an end. It is a shame, though, that such a gifted player should
find himself in one of the Europe’s less heralded leagues.
Certainly
Turkish football is not short on profile in the country itself. On
Monday morning, Nani was shown on TV being put through his paces during
his medical at the club, something that would never happened at an
English club.
Nevertheless,
Fenerbahce are not Turkey’s current champions and have two qualifying
rounds to get through if they are to make it in to this coming season’s
Champions League.
This type of move, however, always looked likely for Nani once he finished last season’s loan spell at Sporting Lisbon.
The
Portuguese international did well back in his home country but the
truth of the matter is that Sporting were never going to be able to pay
their former player the wages in excess of £100,000-a-week that would
have allowed them to make the move permanent.
The Portuguese undoubtedly had the talent to succeed at Old Trafford but seldom matched expectations
  
The
harsh truth is that Nani’s options were severely limited this summer,
just as, for example, are those of team-mate Robin van Persie.
There
are only a select number of clubs in mainstream European football that
can afford to pay wages on a level with United and when they indicate
that they don’t want you then tough decisions have to be made.
Certainly
Nani transpired to be a huge disappointment during his years at Old
Trafford. Having arrived in the summer of 2007 at the same time as the
Brazilian Anderson, the winger never really looked as though he had what
it took to survive and prosper.
There
was never any doubting his ability. Nani can play on either side of the
field and through the middle. At United, though, coaching staff and
team-mates consistently struggled to understand what really made him
tick and found it hard to find the spark needed to bring the best from
him.
Early on there was an excuse in the
formidable presence of Cristiano Ronaldo. United already had one Portuguese
superstar. Was there really room for another?
Rather than learn from Ronaldo’s
remarkable progress, however, Nani seemed cowed by it if anything and, once his
countryman left, he seemed unable to rise to the challenge of actually
replacing him.
There were moments that seemed to
suggest Nani was about to step up. A brilliant individual goal at Arsenal in
2010, for example, proved perfectly what he was capable of but over the course
of his time in England there was too much to forget and not enough to remember.
Under Louis van Gaal, his days were
always numbered. United’s Dutch coach made it clear as soon as he arrived at
the club that he wanted his wide players to function as wing-backs, a role that
never seemed likely to fit Nani. While players like Ashley Young stepped up,
Nani moved to Portugal on loan.
This time it does look as though
Nani is moving on for good. Players who have played in Turkey speak of
competitive football played in full stadia. Istanbul, meanwhile, is a terrific
city.
Having played with some of Europe’s
biggest names in recent years, however, Nani will walk in to the first team
dressing room at Fenerbahce today and realise that the most high profile player
waiting to greet him is the former Liverpool midfielder Raul Meireles. It could
be quite a culture shock.
NANI'S TROPHIES AT UNITED
Premier League
2007-08, 2008-09,
2010-11, 2012-13
League Cup 2008-09
Community Shield 2007,
2008, 2010, 2011
UEFA Champions League
2007-08
FIFA Club World Cup 2008
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