Melbourne Victory’s marquee tells Tom Smithies about his journey from poverty to playing at “the top of the world” – and why the drive instilled in him at Manchester United still beats within.
From Manchester to Melbourne, this is a marquee signing that could bring all sorts of unexpected benefits to the A-League.
As Nani walks around AAMI Park on a cold but sunny Melbourne morning, you start to get a sense of why this footballer has so many trophies on his CV – and why the drive that secured them has now brought him at 35 to the colours of Melbourne Victory.
A player who still has a hotline to Sir Alex Ferguson is talking approvingly of his new manager, Tony Popovic, and trying to explain the mental strength that carried him from a Lisbon childhood in the depths of poverty to the giddiest heights of European football.
The fact that Nani spoke to Ferguson last week, literally while United were playing in front of him against Crystal Palace at the MCG, makes you realise how much he was appreciated by the most successful – and demanding – coach in British football history.
Nani reports that Ferguson was “so surprised and happy” when United’s former kitman-turned-ambassador Albert Morgan, still a close friend of his former boss and sitting next to Nani at United’s game against Palace, called Ferguson and put Nani on the phone for a chat.
And it’s everything that Nani learnt from Ferguson at United – the absolute will to win, the determination to own big moments, the constant search for improvement – that surely excites Popovic as he plots the coming campaign at Victory, beginning on Wednesday in the Australia Cup.
All the signs are that Nani will be involved against Western United in some capacity as another chapter in his storied career begins, after gaining a handful of minutes against United nearly three weeks ago. A crowd of almost 75,000 for that pre-season friendly was a reminder of the juggernaut that United remains, and more distantly of the ferociously successful dressing room that Nani walked into 15 years ago when Ferguson signed him from Sporting Lisbon.
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A decade and a half after he joined the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo at United, the fire lit then is still burning, and explains why he’s in the midst of yet another pre-season, and putting in the work to add more success to that CV.
“As soon as I moved to Manchester in 2007 I learned some things in that club – every time you play you have to play for something, and that’s to achieve trophies,” Nani tells KEEPUP. “That’s what I want (still), it doesn’t matter which team or league, the game is the same. I want to win, I want to continue to achieve the goals, and that’s my passion for the game… I will keep that same mentality.
“(This is) what makes me continue to play with the same enthusiasm, the game, it’s always been like that. It’s always been my passion and I always wanted to win.”
It’s that drive, he explains, that allowed a 20-year-old who had grown up with eight siblings in a tiny apartment to avoid becoming overawed or derailed by the bright lights and fabulous wealth suddenly available at one of the world’s biggest clubs.
“Because always my dream was to arrive there, to arrive to the top of the world in that sport, I was always thinking about playing games, not about the money,” he says.
“Obviously (later) I start to understand that I need to think about the money for my future, to take care of my money, but it was not something that was in my head every single day.
“By the time I start to understand that I need to focus on my accounting and these kind of things, I was already 25, 27. So before I was just playing, playing, playing.
“I get the possibility to help my family: my brothers, my sisters, everyone from my background. But I didn’t change nothing because I know how difficult is (when you) have nothing.
“I never waste time wasting money or showing off because there’s no need. My show-off is on the field, to perform well, score beautiful goals and all these things.
“When you grow up and you have your family, you have friends, it makes it easy to help them if you have all this spare money and to make the difference in this world, in your communities.”
Not all marquees will engage like this, to talk beyond the headlines about themselves and their personalities as much as their football.
Certainly it’s easy to understand why Nani was pursued by Popovic, a coach who declined the chance to sign Michael Ballack at the Wanderers, and why a Portuguese winger could find common cause with arguably the Australian league’s most single-minded and intense head coach.
“He’s a very serious coach,” Nani says with a nod of approval. “I had a conversation with him before I came here and straightaway he told me a little bit about his mentality.
“And yeah, I agree with a lot of things he said, we are on the same page. So it’s easy when it’s like that. You can see this is a coach who has already been at the top.
“I know already how to play at the top, what is the right mentality to achieve certain types of goals. In the story you have already in this country, he’s been the best manager, he’s been winning trophies, so he knows already how to be in the top of this game.
“So I think it would be very easy to work with a coach who can help you improve your game, who can help you to be a better professional. That’s what any type of player wants in this career and wants to be together with the best (coaches) because it makes it easy for you.”
Nani is also well aware of the aura that can surround those who tread the fields of the Premier League, past and present – not least from seeing his new Victory teammates waiting in a doorway to swap shirts with the current vintage of United stars at the MCG.
But he also understands the need for someone of his experience to share the lessons of playing at the top, and of being a marquee player who can develop those around him.
“I found some (Victory) players a little bit shy to talk with me, but once they know me, they will see I’m not an arrogant person or a person who likes to stay in his corner,” he said.
“I like to be involved with my teammates, I like to talk and to help and that’s what I’m doing here. I came here to share all my knowledge on this game and if I can make some players better with anything I will be very happy.
“I want them to help me improve my quality as well because everywhere you go you’ll learn something and I’m sure I will learn a lot here in this in this beautiful city, in this country.
“I just want to have fun with all the players because they are a fantastic team who were doing great last season. Unfortunately they couldn’t win the trophy they wanted to but they are on a good road as well with a fantastic coach.
“So I just wanted to be a part and try to do my best, hope I can help to improve something. But this you only can do with a lot of work, a lot of desire and ambition… this is what I wanted to bring.”
