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Cases of Ronaldo and Nani
It’s a tricky situation that Memphis is in. There is clearly no doubt about his talent. But he's still very young, and as Gary Neville said before, he would need time to settle in a new league, in a new country.
His situation is quite similar to the one with Ronaldo when he first came in. Few players, especially Ruud van Nistelrooy, complained about his wastefulness and his useless trickery with the ball.
But, Sir Alex Ferguson stuck with him, clearly knowing that with age and maturity, he could become a great player. And Ferguson's faith in Ronaldo was repaid as not only he became a great player but one of the greatest players in the world.
However, the same cannot be said about Nani. Arriving in the summer of 2007, he showed a lot of talent and ability to become a special player. But the one thing missing from his game was consistency.
Many believed that Ronaldo took all the limelight; Nani always seemed to be in the shadow of Ronaldo. But when Ronaldo left United for Real Madrid in 2009, Nani failed to step up and replace him.
He did show his quality at times, notably against Arsenal in 2010 where he scored an exceptional individual goal, but those were very few and far between. The truth is, Nani never got the faith from Ferguson he deserved.
Nani never got a good consistent run of games as Ronaldo got at the start of his United career despite his inconsistency. And that eventually led to the downfall of Nani.
Memphis’ future
It was nice to hear from Louis van Gaal in the pre-match press conference that he has faith in Memphis. Even though he conceded that he expected better from him, he also rightfully acknowledged that it’s wrong to expect a young player to perform consistently.
Hopefully, the manager’s faith and his recent performance will give Memphis the confidence to put up good performances and cement his place in the first team. United have got their hands on a gem of a player and everyone, from the coaching staff to the players to the fans, should persevere with him to yield rich rewards down the line. Or else he might end up becoming a player who never realised his full potential.
