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Cape Town - Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand wished former colleague Nani well on Facebook on Monday.
Nani sealed a permanent move away from Old Trafford on Monday after agreeing a three-year deal with Fenerbahce. The Portugal winger spent last season on loan at Sporting Lisbon and ended his time with the Red Devils after failing to impress manager Louis van Gaal.
Ferdinand gave his former teammate a glowing sendoff by saying Nani "was blessed with lots of attributes, having the tools to match most in the world - pace, power in both feet, skill, strength".
"Good luck to Naan Bread (Nani) on his move to Turkey!! Different environment where I believe he will flourish. Questions will be asked whether he will be happy with his utd career? Of course he will be happy.. endless amount of trophies where he played his part.. However, knowing Nani as I do, I do believe he would have wanted more games & to have influenced more consistently during his United tenure!
He was blessed with lots of attributes, having the tools to match most in the world - pace, power in both feet, skill, strength...I could go on. It's one thing having all that it's another putting it all together....week in week out! There aren't many that do and there is the thing that separates Messi & ronaldo from the next tier of Suarez, Neymar, Zlatan etc. Don't get me wrong those are world class players as well but there is tiers with how consistently they produce moments of defining brilliance and it goes on n on thru the tiers of players! A key attribute for any world class player is decision making, when to dribble, when to shoot and when to pass. The players in the top tiers get them decisions right more often than not.
What category Nani sits in now is hard to judge as he hasn't played for man utd for a long time. He produced wonder moments back in Portugal but I have not seen much of him consistently at sporting. For me he had all the attributes to have been in the 2nd n 3rd tiers easily.
Of all the players I've played with during my career, if I wanted someone to beat someone 1 vs 1 & it was do or die he would have been one of my first picks for sure. He can go either way, off either foot, tricky & lightening quick - a defenders nightmare!
There was always going to be comparisons between him and Ronaldo due to the fact they were from Portugal and Lisbon. When he first joined, it would have been great for him to have Ronaldo there for him to learn and adapt - how to train, manage yourself on & off the pitch etc. However the downside to the comparisons came expectation, which is a hard thing to deal with for most especially at a club like Manchester United.
I wish my mate well on his new adventure & I'm sure he will produce moments of excitement & brilliance for his new team & set of fans. Good luck Naan Bread!"
