Two moments of brilliance against Arsenal was all it took for Nani to earn the plaudits and the appraisal that he is a player ‘reborn’ or ‘coming of age’.

It’s about time the Portuguese winger delivered a telling contribution on the big occasion and nothing would please the naysayers more than to see him replicate the abundance of skill he demonstrated in the first 45 minutes at the Emirates on a regular basis.

But until the former Sporting Lisbon youngster is able to perform to that level against the top sides consistently, then describing him in the way he has been is a little premature to say the least.

 

Let’s get this out of the way – the run to set up the opening goal in the 3-1 win in North London was absolutely mesmerising, worthy of anything his predecessor Cristiano Ronaldo was capable of.

And the perfectly weighted pass to tee up Wayne Rooney for his 100^th goal was a harder ball to execute than it looked. It wasn’t just a pass – it was an invitation for Rooney to hit it early which he did to great effect.

But there appears to be a very fine line between the sublime and the ridiculous and it wasn’t long before Nani fell back into old habits. The over-hit crosses and misplaced passes returned in the second half which is more in keeping with what we’ve come to expect from the 23-year-old since his arrival in 2007.

It was only five months ago when Nani was hauled off at Stoke City after a frustrating display and his replacement showed him how it was done; bringing composure, calmness and simplicity to the game as Manchester United eventually overcame the Potters’ resistance.

The intelligence by Ryan Giggs that day was in complete contrast to the erratic nature of Nani and rumours began to surface that Sir Alex Ferguson was losing patience with the £17m signing and keen to offload him in January.

An extended run in the team over the last few weeks has helped, and the winger carried his resurgent form into United’s 5-0 thrashing of strugglers Portsmouth as they continued to put pressure on Chelsea at the top of the Premier League.

In fairness Nani has always showed potential and maybe it takes some younger players longer than others to fully mature and perhaps, as United assistant manager Mike Phelan suggested, the penny has finally dropped. However, if the influence of Giggs hasn’t rubbed off and he returns to the Nani of old, then he’ll be shipped out of Manchester for a pittance.