Man Utd hero Nani reveals ‘good thing’ about Louis van Gall selling him | Football | Sport
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Manchester United hero Nani has admitted the good thing about Louis van Gaal selling him was he was able to ‘breathe a little bit’. The Portugal international spent seven years at Old Trafford before leaving for Fenerbahce, with a loan spell at Sporting Lisbon in between. He won four Premier League titles at Old Trafford.
Nani was a key player for United towards the end of Sir Alex Ferguson’s spell in charge.
However, by the time Van Gaal took over at Old Trafford, he was deemed surplus to requirements.
United sold Nani to Fenerbahce in 2015 after the Portugal international had spent a year on loan at Sporting Lisbon.
And while he admits football was never the same once his exit, he’s opened up on the positive aspects of his departure.
“I’ll tell you the truth. It will never be the same after leaving Manchester United to play for another club. It’s not the same,” he said.
“As a club, as a structure, the quality, everyone knows that. I’m not offending anybody. Everyone knows that.
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“That’s why Man United is Man United, all over the world. It was great to come back to Sporting because I came back home, close to my family and my friends.
“It was good to breathe a little bit, to recover and get some energy back and motivation, to find a new challenge” said Nani speaking to the Official Manchester United Podcast.
“To tell the truth, it was a great season for Sporting for me that year. I played very well and in the Champions League I scored a couple of goals. I enjoyed the football a lot in that time.”
Nani also admitted that he knew he’d play for United when he took a tour of Old Trafford at the age of 17.
“I went to Manchester a couple of years before I joined when I was a junior at 17 years old. We went to England for a pre-season,” he said.
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“I don’t remember where, but we were training and the coach said, ‘Guys, we’re preparing for a tour at Old Trafford.’
“Wow, wow, Old Trafford! Wow! We went into the dressing room and it was a special moment.
“I remember I was sitting and the guy giving the tour said to us, ‘Cristiano sits here, Giggs sits there’.
“I said ‘one day, I will sit here and I will be here’. I didn’t remember but when I came to United my friends told me – it was amazing, incredible.”
Nani previously hit out at Van Gaal in 2016, accusing him of treating players ‘as kids’.
“He didn’t use me a lot in preseason,” he said.
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“I was the player who had the least time in all the games and I was feeling, ‘This coach doesn’t count on me’.
“He and his assistant were shouting at players like we were kids, like 18-year-olds.
“And I think, ‘This is not the way to treat us because I am professional, I am training every day, I’m doing nothing wrong, I’m putting quality in the training’.
“Now when you see Manchester, it’s not Manchester. With all respect to the players who are there, the personality, the mentality is all different.
“When you see Manchester United go inside the pitch you see a new era. Before you had big names, experienced players who represent so many years at the club.
“Now you see players who are maybe in their first year, their first time in the Premier League. It’s all new.”
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