At 23-years-old, which is how old Nani is now, Cristiano Ronaldo had already had his 31-goal league season. In total, Nani has 5 Premier League goals for Manchester United. Clearly, he isn’t and never will be a replacement for his esteemed compatriot.
Ronaldo is a unique player in world football. Ferguson knew this, which is why he let him get away with all sorts of off-field shenanigans during his time at Old Trafford; hands up if you remember the tabloids reporting sexual indiscretions which also involved Nani and Anderson? Tasty. Let's not forget the occasion when he mischievously stated - speaking about Portugal’s away shirt, angling for a move to Madrid - “I just love playing in white.”? Or perhaps his petulant reaction to being subbed at Old Trafford in his final season at the club?
The fact is, despite his traditional hair-dryer reputation, Ferguson never seriously castigated Ronaldo. Why? Because the Scot knew he had a unique weapon, prized by clubs across the globe.
A natural comparison
Obviously, given Ronaldo's stature as a young, technically proficient, occasionally-diving Portuguese winger from Sporting, anybody else following in his footsteps would inevitably be compared to him and be expected to match his output; such is the nature of sport. So it has been with Nani. But this is obviously unfair, not only because it stifles Nani’s ability to enjoy and play his own game (making him a worse player), but also because Ronaldo set the standard impossibly high, meaning anyone who tries to match him in terms of statistics is almost destined to fail. Failure leads to a crisis of confidence and self-belief is key to playing football at the optimum level.
So of course the weight of replacing Ronaldo is too much for Nani, but I doubt anyone close to the player is actually putting this pressure on him, especially not Ferguson, who as has already been noted knew perfectly well that Ronaldo was irreplaceable.
Obvious talent
The problem with Nani has not been that he has not replaced Ronaldo, but that he has simply completely underperformed as a prospect in the Manchester United team. He has shown himself able to score goals, in particular 'The Nani Goal' which goes something like this:
1) run down the left wing
2) about 30 yards from goal cut infield so the ball is on your right side
3) smash it in the far corner
This might sound great, but he only nets about two or three of these spectacular efforts per season and doesn’t contribute consistently in any other area. His most significant contribution has been to nail a penalty in their 2008 Champions League final shootout against Chelsea, which while no small feat, does not suffice to justify his transfer fee or lack of effectiveness in general.
Artisans vs artists
At the least a player bought to ostensibly ‘replace’ Ronaldo would be expected to have nailed down a starting spot by now, but Nani has failed to even deliver this. He has made appearances in just eight of his side’s 13 league games this term, only three times for the full 90 minutes. Sir Alex has preferred to deploy less ‘flashy’ but more hard-working and consistent performers such as Darren Fletcher and Luis Antonio Valencia (who has also been erroneously touted as some sort of ‘Ronaldo replacement’).
As of this weekend, Ryan Giggs (age; 35) has played 788 minutes of Premiership football to Nani’s 458. In Man Utd’s latest match- a 3-0 win against Everton- Giggs played the entire game, whilst Nani didn’t even get on the field. It’s surely not positive for a young player’s development to be left out in such a way, and at this point I can see Nani getting closer to the transfer list than the first team.
His own man
It’s pretty obvious to anyone that Nani has of course failed to replace Ronaldo. But to totally replace him would’ve meant being a huge, strong, pacy winger/ forward who changed team’s gameplans and tactics when he is on the field, and who netted goals at the rate of a striker. Nani has neither the personal drive nor the physical stature (he’s only 5’9” compared to Ronaldo’s 6’1”) to compete with such dominance. But neither does any player in world football, really.
If United somehow bought Lionel Messi, he wouldn’t be able to replace Ronaldo either. He’d be Messi; a totally different proposition. Not worse, just different, and this is what Nani should be allowed to become. If his best is not good enough (which may be what Ferguson has already decided), then he should be sold to a team where he can make more of an impact or at least get on the field.
The future...
It’s unfair to expect one player to replace another, or to expect them to become ‘The New X’. It’s like saying Obama is the new Bush. The weight of replacing Ronaldo’s superhuman output is a hefty one that must be borne by the entire Manchester United team, not just one man. Nani has not even contributed a decent share of this effort, let alone taken it all on himself. If he had become a decent player in his own mould up to this point, people would more than likely not have a problem with him just being Nani, and would stop thinking of him as Ronaldo ver.2. But as it is he has yet to impress his own style of play on the manager or the fans, and so is still being lumbered with the weight of being a failed Ronaldo replica, rather than being simply himself. Unless he can find a more polished and effective compromise between doing what he wants (tricks, flicks), working for the team (in the style of Valencia and Fletcher) and generally becoming a more useful player, he will continue to find himself marginalized and in the shadows of his more imposing and more prodigious compatriot.