KUALA LUMPUR: Miracles do happen, but not without hard work.
That was the advice given to aspiring footballers by Manchester United icon Nani, who was in Kuala Lumpur for the club’s post-season tour fixture against the Asean All-Stars yesterday.
The 38-year-old took time to engage with young footballers aged 13-17 at the Sayfol International School in an Adidas football clinic with players from the Suparimau League, and recalled his time before he made it big.
“Growing up, I was playing for a small club in my teens.
“And after each match, people would always say that there would be a scout from the big teams who would see me and get me to a bigger club,’’ said Nani.
“But they never came, and they never saw me. But I kept my dream alive until one day, when I was 16 years old, and it was the last match of the season when I was playing with Real Massama.
“I played well, and on my way walking home with my friend in the street, a car stopped next to us, and it was the director of Sporting Lisbon with a paper in his hand.
“He said the club want to see me for a week and asked me to train with them. So it was a surprise and a beautiful time.”
Having recently opened his own football academy in Portugal, Nani was thrilled to be working with youngsters, as it also brought him back to his youth days.
“It’s special for me to be here and to be involved with the young lads, the new generation, because I recently opened my academy as well.
“So I love to see these youngsters develop, and I’m very happy if I can teach them something that they can keep for life.
“At this age, I was doing almost the same things, enjoying football and maybe doing backflips in my garden with my friends, dreaming that one day I could be a professional footballer.
“I didn’t have much growing up, so things were difficult but I don’t remember the bad moments because I was playing football every day and I was enjoying every minute of it,” he added.
