On the back of an admittedly dreadful performance from the Portuguese winger against Everton, Nani was subsequently omitted from the matchday squad for the visit of Fulham on Saturday.

Following his poor performance and amid rumours that United are looking to sell the mercurial winger, a lot of United fans have jumped on the Nani-bashing bandwagon. I was unfortunate enough to encounter one of them in a Twitter exchange the other evening. Having stated my belief that it would be a huge mistake for United to sell Nani and that, other than Ronaldo and Messi, I couldn’t think of a better winger than the Portuguese wideman, someone tweeted to tell me that Nani “can’t cross and doesn’t commit his men.”

I then asked him to name better wingers than Nani to which he replied by reeling off a long list of inferior wingers to Nani including, among others, Mauricio Isla – who plays right-back more than he does right-wing – and Arsenal’s recent acquisition, Lukas Podolski, who again can’t really be classed as a winger having played as a striker for large parts of his career. Once again I replied telling him that, in my opinion, none of the players he mentioned are better than Nani to which he scoffed that “the irony is that you don’t even need to look outside of Man Utd for a much better winger, a much, much better winger.”

Here, he was alluding to Antonio Valencia, United’s Ecuadorian winger and herein lies the crux of my argument. One of the key lines of the Nani-bashers, and there are many of them, is that Nani is nowhere near as consistent as Valencia, an argument that is spouted as though it’s an unarguable fact.

As Vladimir Lenin once said: “A lie told often enough becomes the truth” and this seems particularly pertinent in this case. Many United fans regard the ‘truth’ to be that Valencia is a much more consistent player than Nani yet, having examined the stats, they couldn’t be more wrong.

Player Season Apps Goals Assists Goals per game ratio Assists per game ratio Combined number of goals and assists Nani 2009/10 34 7 9 1 : 4.9 1 : 3.8 16 2010/11 49 10 14 1 : 4.9 1 : 3.5 24 2011/12 40 10 14 1 : 4 1 : 3.3 24 Total 123 27 37 1 : 4.6 1 : 3.5 64 Valencia 2009/10 49 7 11 1 : 7 1 : 4.5 18 2010/11 20 3 3 1 : 6.7 1 : 6.7 6 2011/12 38 6 15 1 : 6.3 1 : 2.5 21 Total 107 16 29 1 : 6.7 1 : 3.7 45

*Above stats taken from ESPN Soccernet

So, some conclusions based on the above:

Nani has a better goals to games ratio than Valencia in each of the last three seasons

The Portuguese winger has a better assists to games ratio in two of the last three seasons

Combining goals and assists over the last three seasons, Nani has both a better goals to games ratio and a better assists to games ratio than Valencia

In 2009/10, United scored 118 goals in all competitions: Nani was directly involved (scored or assisted) in 16 (14%) whilst Valencia was directly involved in 18 (15%). It’s worth noting that Valencia made 15 more appearances than Nani that season

In 2010/11, United scored 111 goals in all competitions: Nani was directly involved in 24 (22%) of the goals whilst Valencia was directly involved in 6 (5%). This time, it’s worth noting that Nani made 29 more appearances than the Ecuadorian that season

In 2011/12, United scored 119 goals in all competitions: Nani was directly involved in 24 (20%) of the goals whilst Valencia was directly involved in 21 (18%). Nani made 2 more appearances than Valencia last season

Over the last 3 seasons, Utd have scored 348 goals in all competitions: Nani has been directly involved in 64 (18%) of the goals whilst Valencia has been directly involved in 45 (13%) of the goals. Nani has made 19 more appearances during this period

We can deduce from this analysis that Nani’s stats compare favourably to Valencia’s over the last 3 seasons yet as I’ve already mentioned how many times will you hear a Nani-basher remark something along the lines of ‘on his day, he’s excellent but if only Nani was as consistent as Valencia’?

The main priority of wingers is to create and score goals. That being said, surely consistency should be measured on how often they create or score goals. And the stats prove that over the last 3 seasons, Nani has both scored and assisted goals on a more regular basis than Valencia. Quite simply, Nani has proved more valuable to the United team as a creative outlet than Valencia. Whereas Valencia is restricted to playing on the right-wing, Nani’s ability with both feet means he is more versatile; able to play on the right-wing – his preferred position – or on the left-wing.

Nani is one of the three players – Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie being the other two – within the United squad that is truly capable of coming up with a moment of magic that can decide a game. I’m thinking of his beautiful dinked finish over an onrushing Heurelho Gomes against Spurs in the 3-1 home-win in 2009/10 or the way he plucked Ryan Giggs’s through ball out of the air with his right foot before accelerating away from Pablo Zabaleta and finishing past Joe Hart with his left in the 2010/11 Old Trafford derby. Moments of sheer quality that leave supporters astounded and are illustrative of the talent Nani has.

This is not a direct criticism of Valencia but I struggle to think of times – his winner at Blackburn last season aside – when he has produced moments of as breathtaking quality as the ones mentioned above. The Ecuadorian is the traditional touchline-hugging winger of yesteryear but is generally one-dimensional, some may say predictable. Every time he gets the ball, you can be pretty much assured that he will seek to knock the ball down the line and swing in a cross. Admittedly, he is very good at what he does, there’s no doubt about it. But against a strong quick full-back, he can be shut down as was the case in the 2011 Champions League Final when Barcelona’s Eric Abidal effectively stymied the Ecuadorean or even in last year’s home game against QPR when Valencia was kept quiet by Taye Taiwo.

So in conclusion, it would be a huge mistake to sell Nani for a number of reasons. Firstly, Nani’s sale would leave United pretty short in terms of options out wide with only two orthodox wingers – Valencia and Ashley Young – in the United squad. The loss of Nani would also probably lead to Sir Alex Ferguson often playing one of Danny Welbeck, Wayne Rooney or Robin Van Persie out wide; a role in which all three are wasted and generally ineffective. In Welbeck’s case particularly, playing him on the wing is more likely to hinder his development than help it.

And secondly, yes, Nani can be infuriating – perhaps more than most at times but the general nature of wing-play means that most wingers are frustrating – but he is still an extremely effective weapon in United’s attacking arsenal. Of the orthodox wingers playing in the top four leagues in the world – Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga – only Arjen Robben and Angel Di Maria match his stats over the past three seasons. And as the stats prove, he has both a better goals to games ratio and a better assists to games ratio than Valencia over the last three seasons; something worth bearing in mind the next time you hear someone say that Valencia is a much more consistent performer than the Portuguese international. To me, the next three days could be imperative in determining whether United are able to reclaim the Premier League title or end up finishing runners-up again; quite simply, the loss of Nani would be a huge blow to United’s title aspirations.

Do you agree/disagree with my views? Let me know by commenting below!

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