Former Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand believes that his ex-teammate Nani had enough talent to match the best players in the world.
The 28-year-old Portuguese winger completed his move to Turkish club Fenerbahce this week after eight trophy laden years at the Old Trafford. Ferdinand is confident that if not for inconsistency Nani would have been seen in the same bracket as Neymar, Luis Suarez and even Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Ferdinand wrote on Facebook: “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 and Ronaldo from the next tier of Suarez, Neymar and Zlatan.
“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 and on through the tiers of players.”
Signed from Sporting Lisbon back in 2007 for a reported £17 million, Nani’s precocious talent as an 18-year-old winger was for all to see. Pace, skills and trickery, the Portuguese seemed to have the whole package. Although not entirely a flop, the expectations from him achieving much greater heights added with the incessant and unfair comparisons with compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo, divided opinion among the Old Trafford faithful.
“A key attribute for any world class player is decision making, when to dribble, when to shoot and when to pass,” continued Ferdinand.
“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 second and third tiers easily,” he added.
Nani won four Premier Leagues and one Champions League among others, during his time with Manchester United.
