Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha, known in the football world as Nani, announced the end of his stellar playing career on Sunday evening.
Nani clocked up 733 matches in a career spanning two decades, playing in seven different countries, scoring a total of 154 goals, and winning a hatful of trophies including Euro 2016 with Portugal, and the Champions League and 4 Premier League titles with Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.
“The time has come to say goodbye. I have decided to finish my career as a professional player. It’s been an amazing ride and I wanted to thank every single person who has helped me and supported me through the highs and lows during a 20-year career that gave me so many unforgettable memories,” wrote Nani in a message published on Social Media, accompanying a video explaining his decision (see below).
Nani burst onto the scene at Sporting Clube de Portugal as an extravagantly talented teenager in 2005, the latest in the Lisbon club’s incredible production line of world-class wingers that had produced the likes Paulo Futre, Luís Figo, Simão Sabrosa, Ricardo Quaresma and Cristiano Ronaldo before him.
Two scintillating seasons for the Portuguese club were enough to persuade Manchester United to buy Nani for €25 million, four years after they had splashed out a similarly high fee for another teenage protégé from Sporting, Cristiano Ronaldo, with spectacular results.
The time has come to say goodbye, I have decided to finish my career as a professional player. It’s been an amazing ride and I wanted to thank every single person who has helped me and supported me through the highs and lows during a career which lasted over 20 years and gave me… pic.twitter.com/3ZuSMrPHcR
— Nani (@luisnani) December 8, 2024
Nani went on to enjoy the best years of his career at Old Trafford, winning a total of 12 trophies at the English club, as well as several individual awards such as Manchester United Players’ Player of the Year in 2010/11. An instinctive, unpredictable and spontaneous footballer, Nani left many moments of outrageous skill and sensational goals in the archives of the world’s most high-profile league.
However, although he enjoyed great highs at United, opinion on his time in England is divided with some believing he did not fully realise his potential, complaints about his inconsistency and poor decision making, and constant comparisons to compatriot Ronaldo that do little to favour Nani’s legacy.
PortuGOAL’s Portuguese Abroad correspondent Sean Gillen has reported on Portuguese footballers plying their trade abroad for decades and also happens to be a Manchester United fan, so he is in the perfect position to assess Nani’s time at the club. Here is Sean’s appraisal of Nani’s Manchester United legacy.
Nani always divided opinion somewhat. He was not helped by being a Portuguese winger emerging after Ronaldo had left the club. Similar to early Ronaldo he could over-complicate the play at times. Even his teammates from that era say they were never quite sure what decisions he would make. When he’s referred to by United fans now it can often be to depict a frustrating player. But I think that’s harsh. Not everyone can be Ronaldo and Nani had a period for a couple of years when he was certainly one of the best players in the Premier League.
He was very appreciated by his teammates too. You hear the likes of Rio Ferdinand talk about him and it’s always glowing. Plus he scored a huge penalty in the Champions League final shootout in Moscow in 2008 which everyone remembers. I think beneath a few jokes most United fans would remember him fondly.
I remember in the winter of the 2009/10 season, which is obviously just after Ronaldo left. Nani was seen as maybe being out the door. Then he suddenly found form, had an amazing game at Arsenal where he did a famous piece of skill. Mike Phelan said after that match that “the penny had dropped” which I didn’t really like as an expression to use. But maybe it gave an insight into how Ferguson saw it. After that Nani was brilliant for a good 18 months. He was awarded United’s Player of the Year in 2011 at the end of the following season. Yet he was left out of the Champions League final against Barcelona despite being our player of the year. Which perhaps sums it up.
Nani played his last match for Manchester United in 2014, and although he is most remembered for his stint in England, his exit paved the way for a veritable world tour of football leagues and clubs.
Twice he returned to Sporting where he has always been adored by the fans, shining brightly on both occasions, but Nani also played in Turkey (Fenerbahçe and Adana Demirspor), Spain (Valencia), Italy (Lazio and Venezia), USA (Orlando City) and Australia (Melbourne Victory), before ending his career this season at the club from the neighbourhood where he was born, Estrela da Amadora, on the outskirts of Lisbon.
It is fitting that Nani’s last match was Estrela’s visit to Sporting on 1 November when he came on as a second-half substitute and was given a standing ovation by the entirety of the crowd in the Alvalade that night.
While Nani’s career arc at club level may be considered as starting strongly and reaching its peak early, it was a different story at international level. Amassing 112 Portugal appearances, only four footballers have played more games for the Seleção (Ronaldo, Moutinho, Pepe and Figo).
Nani played in three European Championships (2008, 2012 and 2016) and one World Cup (2014), missing out on the 2010 World Cup after getting injured during training with the Seleção just before the tournament.
He arguably got better and better with age, enjoying a particularly strong Euro 2012, but it was at Euro 2016 that Nani truly wrote himself into Portuguese football folklore as a key performer as the Seleção experienced their finest hour, finally winning a major trophy.
Nani scored crucial goals against Hungary in the final group game and Wales in the semi-final, was involved in the dramatic extra-time winner against Croatia in the last-16 match, assisted Renato Sanches for his equaliser against Poland in the quarter-final, and took the captain’s armband in the final when Cristiano Ronaldo went off injured in the first half.
Nani may have hung up his boots but he fully intends to keep himself immersed in the game. The 38-year-old recently inaugurated the Nani Football Academy in Fernão Ferro, 25 km south of Lisbon on the other side of the River Tagus.
“Football has given me so much and my feeling right now is to give back everything that football has given to me, and with this [academy] I have a great opportunity of doing so.”
Obrigado Nani!
By Tom Kundert
