---
title: "Nani reveals the childhood promise that came true at Manchester United"
canonical: "https://readmanutd.com/2026/09/26/nani-manchester-united-childhood-dream/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Shumail Sajid"
section: "Man Utd News"
published: "2026-09-26T06:30:00Z"
modified: "2026-09-26T06:30:00Z"
---

# Nani reveals the childhood promise that came true at Manchester United

**Nani has revealed that he told a friend he would one day play for Manchester United after watching the club’s dramatic Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich in 1999.**

The Portuguese winger joined [Manchester United](https://readmanutd.com/tag/manchester-united/) in the summer of 2007 and could hardly have asked for a better start. He won both the Premier League and Champions League in his first season at Old Trafford.

Nani went on to make 240 appearances for the club, scoring 40 goals in all competitions. His time in Manchester also brought four Premier League titles, two League Cups, four Community Shields, one Champions League title and the Club World Cup.

[Speaking to Manchester United’s official media](https://www.manutd.com/en/news/how-99-inspired-nanis-own-champions-league-triumph) alongside former teammate [Wes Brown](https://readmanutd.com/tag/wes-brown/), Nani looked back on the night that first sparked his dream of playing for the club.

The 1999 Champions League final was being shown on a rainy evening in Portugal, with Nani watching in a town near the Spanish border. United appeared to be heading for defeat before Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored in stoppage time to complete an extraordinary comeback.

## **Nani’s Manchester United dream started in 1999**

Nani remembered walking into a coffee shop with a friend just as the final moments were being played.

“Me and my friend were entering the coffee \[shop\]. And, at that time, exactly in that moment, was the game. It was like two minutes to finish and then we saw the last two goals, when we changed the game and we won,” he recalled.

What happened next stayed with him.

Nani added: “I told my friend that day: ‘One day, I will play in that team. That will be my team.’”

Eight years later, the dream became reality when United signed him from Sporting CP.