Right to leave Nani out for Young?

In the summer of 2007 United signed two young and talented Portuguese players. One of them, Anderson, is still on the brink of making it as a regular for Man United, but his countryman Nani is seemingly frozen out at Old Trafford.

By @Nicopoleides



There's not a shadow of a doubt that Nani is one of United's most gifted players in terms of technique, ball control and skill on the ball. His problem is, and has always been, the consistency. However, this is not just down to Nani himself, I think.

The Portuguese winger delivered a very good debut campaign on the Theatre of Dreams, but went on to struggle. His breakthrough came in the latter part of the 09/10 season.... seemingly. 2010 was in my opinion the best calendar year of his United career, and there is no coincidence that he played on the right-hand side for most of the time. But as Antonio Valencia delivered a top-notch run of games in the second part of 2011/12, and is a very traditional winger, limited to playing in his favourite position. This means as long as the Ecuadorian is playing on the right, Nani has to play on the left, which is not his preferred position.

This means Nani's challenge basically to perform better than Ashley Young. The latter does maybe a better job on the defensive duties, but rarely provides goals and/or assists. And since when was a winger supposed to be judged by his defensive efforts rather than what he can create on the opposite half? I think the former Villa player has six months to go until he's labelled as flop, as he has performed way below the expected level since his arrival at Old Trafford. Yet Nani is left out, despite world-class abilities. As this current United squad, let alone the line-up, lacks artistery and flair, I think Nani should be playing on a regular basis. He's able to create masterpieces on his day, which the mediocre Young has barely ever done for United.

The bottom line should be that Nani is inconsistent and Young is consistently poor. I'd have the Portuguese any day of the week to enlighten a rather gray United side.