Manchester United: Why Is Nani Not Rated as One of World's Best Players?

Luis Carlos Almeida da Cunha was a virtually unstoppable creative force for last year's Premier League champions, blessed with outrageous skill and boasting one of the most distinctive goal celebrations in world football.

The goal he scored against Chelsea was an exceptional strike which is an early contender for goal of the season, while his opener at Stoke on Saturday wasn't bad, either.

That goal at the Britannia Stadium came via a one-two with Darren Fletcher, a swift right-angled turn past a defender and a low, clinically-drilled effort inside the near post. It ultimately secured a point for the champions and maintained their unbeaten start to the season as Peter Crouch later headed his first ever league goal against United for the Potters.

So why does nobody seem to like Nani very much?

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are rightly held up as the two best players in the world. The Spain-based pair are head and shoulders above the rest, and even then there is a strict hierarchy within that duopoly.

But despite stepping out of Ronaldo's shadow following his fellow Portuguese's world-record move to Real Madrid, Nani still seems to be denied the credit he so richly deserves.

Looking at the facts, it seems hard to fathom why he is not talked about more regularly as one of the world's top footballers. Last season, as United sealed their record 19th league title, he scored nine goals and set up another 18.

That's an incredible haul of assists for any current footballer not plying their trade at the Camp Nou, and is even more impressive that he had a hand in a total 27 of United's league goals, more than a third of the 78 the team scored en route to winning the title.

Yet, somehow, he was never in the running for any of the top individual honours. The 24-year-old was beaten the the PFA's Young Player of the Year award by Arsenal's Jack Wilshere and was not even shortlisted for the main award, won by Tottenham's Gareth Bale.

And it was not just his fellow professionals that shunned the sublimely talented Cape Verde-born forward. Just as with the PFA award, the Football Writer's Association saw fit to exclude him from the list of candidates for their own award.

Winner Scott Parker and another nominee, Charlie Adam, both had good seasons, but not good enough to save West Ham and Blackpool from relegation.

Nani ended his fourth season at the Old Trafford by winning the club's own Player's Player of the Year award, but even that was tainted when he only found himself on the bench for the Champions League final against Barcelona two weeks later.

That decision was as much to do with the return of the more defensively robust Antonio Valencia as a reflection of Nani's form, but it provided an inappropriate denouement to the best season of his career.

This season, Nani is on course to better last season's amazing contribution. Following his match-winning brace against Manchester City that saw United claim the Community Shield, he has already scored three goals and created as many again in his team's six league games so far this term.

At that current rate he would end the campaign having a hand in 36 goals.

Even getting close to such awesome projected figures would surely mean that those unwilling to rank him as one of the best in the clutch of players looking up at Ronaldo and Messi would be forced to re-evaluate their opinions.

It would be remiss to acknowledge that there are reasons of Nani's own making that have made him easy to respect but difficult to love following his £17 million move from Sporting Lisbon in 2007.

Upon his transfer from Portuguese to English football, the quick-footed winger was often accused of diving, or at least making the most out of fouls and tackles on him, in order to get opponents in trouble with officials.

These days, however, he is more often than not likely to be wearing a pained expression on his face from taking the hit to the shins rather than as an act of deception.His four years in English football have certainly made him a tougher player, without sacrificing any degree of his abundant pace or skill.

There have also been on-pitch run-ins with several players, usually as a result of him 'showboating' when a more gracious attitude would be better received when his team is already winning comfortably. 

Another example of his sporting credentials being brought into question came against Tottenham last season. The Spurs' goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, a magnet for calamitous incidents, believed the whistle had gone for a handball by Nani at Old Trafford and rolled the ball casually in front of him to take a free-kick.

Nani, realising that the referee had not halted play for the infringement, pounced on the loose ball and tucked it into the net as Gomes appealed in vain.

That 84th-minute goal, the second in a 2-0 win for United, left a bitter taste in the mouth, but Nani was only following the age-old mantra "play to the whistle" to the letter, and his opportunism was impressive if not exactly laudable.

Or, perhaps, it could be that he has followed on from former teammate Ronaldo in terms of narcissism, as evidenced by such reported behaviour as commissioning a life-sized marble statue of himself in full celebration mode, complete with shirt, medals and jester's hat. And putting it in his living room.

Whatever the reasons are for the widespread dislike of Nani, he can turn and point to his three league titles and a Champions League winner's medal as proof that he is under no moral imperative to be universally loved, but you cannot deny his ability.

Another season as good as the last one he had, and it will be very difficult to omit him from the award shortlists again.