119: Nani, Portugal, FIFA World Cup Russia 2018, Panini Official Licensed Sticker Album

Mat Jolin-Beech takes a look at a player equally capable of brilliance and brain fade with little indication of which you’ll be getting on any given day. Then again it must be hard balancing club and international duties with the pressures of being part of one of the noughties’ biggest boy bands alongside Darren Bent. As Mat says below look at the photos.

Some players are great. Some players are not. Some have careers better than their potential led them to have any right to have. Some fail to hit that potential and underwhelm massively. Then there is Nani who, somehow, managed to fall into all of the above. Plus, he is seemingly still playing. I thought he’d retired years ago. But alas, he is still playing and currently (at the time of writing at least) back in his homeland of Portugal with Estrela Amadora.

As well as various trophies, he also has the accolades of being a founding member of JLS (seriously, look at photos – he’s in there), and being a full-time wind up merchant. Top of that WUM list is winding up then Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger by doing a load of keepy-uppies – “If Nani is going to showboat he must expect to be kicked” – and also pissing off Ronaldo (CR7 not R9) by denying him a fourth goal in a 5-1 win over Spain by being offside. Those alone are worthy of being on this list, and I may have to revisit first class WUM, but back to Nani the footballer.

Having seen him live – he was one of the worst players on the pitch that day, only overshadowed by the awfulness that was Anderson – he is what is often, and diplomatically called an enigma. That is not very secret code by pundits for world class in moments, mostly average, and then at times genuinely awful. Like 2/10 performance awful. But was he as bad as he is often remembered?

His trophy cabinet includes three Portuguese cups; a Portuguese League Cup; four Premier League titles, two League Cups, three FA Community Shields, the FIFA Club World Cup and the UEFA Champions League with Manchester United; and he captained Portugal (after Ronaldo got injured, cried and got attacked by THAT moth) to the Euro 2016 title. Not exactly bad, is it?

So why is Nani often considered as an enigma, and often disappointing? For me, there are two reasons. First, there are those 0/10 performances. Those games where he went missing, proved frustrating by missing passes, being greedy by going it alone rather than setting up teammates, or by being offside when someone else is scoring…eh CR7? However, after Ronaldo left Man U, Nani did step up and proved he is (I was going to put was, but he’s still playing, so…) a good player capable of magic moments. "Maturity is why we're seeing the best of him now, his last three games have been absolutely first class but today was his best,” said Sir Alex Ferguson after a stellar performance by Nani in the 3-1 win over Arsenal on 31 January 2010. The following season Nani again adopted his WUM persona to all Tottenham Hotspur fans when he scored net after Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes rolled the ball out to take a free-kick he thought had been, only for Nani to tap it into an empty net.

The other reason is Ronaldo. Ronaldo was such a force of nature, with only the humble Lionel Messi comparable in that era the duo dominated the Ballon d’Or, that anyone would look poor in comparison. Plus, both at club and country, Nani was in the huge CR7 shadow. I mean who remembers Nani was actually the captain on the pitch in that final? Or do you remember Ronaldo, the moth, and him dominating the sideline with his knee bandaged up to the nines? If there was no Ronaldo, Nani may be held in higher esteem. But then again, if there was no Ronaldo, Nani’s trophy cabinet would be considerably emptier.

So there you go, Nani: WUM, JLS member, and not as bad as you think he was.