After another attempt in Portugal
©TM/IMAGO
He became European champion alongside Cristiano Ronaldo (39) and, alongside the Portuguese superstar, was also one of the last active players to win the Champions League with Manchester United in 2008; Now Nani (38) is ending his career ahead of his long-time colleague. The widely traveled winger had to express his words of thanks in five languages.
Nani played the most games for a club with the Red Devils. In 2007 he moved from youth club Sporting Lisbon to the English team for more than 25 million euros, where he not only won the premier class but also won the championship title four times. He played 230 games at Man United, almost 100 more than at Sporting. In addition to Ronaldo, from the victorious Champions League squad in 2008, only Jonny Evans (36) and substitute goalkeeper Tom Heaton (38; both back at United) are still active in professional football today.
Nani’s path led him to Turkey in 2015 after seven years at United and a one-year loan return to Sporting. Fenerbahce bought him for 6 million euros and, as European champions, sold him to Spain for 8.5 million euros to FC Valencia, then he went on loan to Italy to Lazio Rome, who also paid a million-dollar sum. Nani only stayed at all three clubs for one year and moved to Orlando City in the United States for three years in 2019 after another Sporting interlude.
Nani returned to Italy for Venezia in 2022 and to Turkey for Adana Demirspor in 2023. In the meantime, he played for ten games at Melbourne Victory in Australia before he seriously injured his cruciate ligament and went back to Europe. In the current season, Nani made one last attempt at the Portuguese first division club CF Estrela Amadora, where he also played ten games before hanging up his boots.