Nani ready to obey Fergie´s house rules

MANCHESTER, England (AFP) - The back-flips may have already been banned by disciplinarian Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, but the 17.3million pounds Old Trafford new-boy Nani is likely to provide plenty of fireworks to replace his spectacular goal celebration this season.

Luis Carlos Almeida da Cunha - the Cape Verde-born winger better known as Nani - has arrived at the Premiership champions with the billing of the ‘new Ronaldo’ to live up to at Old Trafford.

Within half an hour of his United debut against Shenzhen on the club’s pre-season tour of the Far East, the Portuguese international had already scored a gem of a goal to justify the hype, but his back-flip celebration was quickly banned by Ferguson, who has warned the 20-year-old not to risk injury by repeating the party trick in future.

With pace, trickery and an eye for goal in his locker, the former Sporting Lisbon youngster will only add to the incredible attacking options that United now have at their disposal following the close season acquisitions by Ferguson.

Brazilian attacking midfielder Anderson and Argentina forward Carlos Tevez will link-up with Nani and the already-established United superstars of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

United could be awesome in full flow this season and many expect Nani to be at the heart of everything.

Paulo Sousa, the former Portugal great who is now assistant manager of the national team, insists that Nani has everything needed to be a world star.

“Nani is very explosive and very strong,” commented Sousa.

“He’s fast and is going to be a great signing for United. I think that in the next five or 10 years, he and Cristiano Ronaldo can become the best players in the world.”

Ronaldo, whose departure from Sporting Lisbon to United in 2003, smoothed the way for Nani to break into the team in Lisbon, echoes Sousa’s claims about the youngster’s talent.

“I really hope he has the same success as me, or even more, because he’s got the ability to do this,” said Ronaldo.

“He’s joining the right club to evolve as a player and as a person.”

Ferguson has attempted to play down expectations by warning he will take time to adjust to the physical nature of the Premiership and the winger’s progress has been delayed in recent weeks due to an ankle injury sustained during the European Under-21 Championships in The Netherlands.

Having spotted Nani’s prodigious talent when they were watching Ronaldo four years ago, United have clearly done their homework on the player and Nani admits that he is desperate to make the most of his move.

“The move to United all happened very fast,” said Nani.

“The clubs reached an agreement quite rapidly and from then on I knew my career would continue at Manchester United. They are one of the major clubs in Europe and any player would like to play in Manchester United.

“All I have to do now is keep working and giving my best to prove to be worthy of the confidence shown in me. But I know I’m young and I have still to learn many things.”

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