The transfer news and rumors of Australian and A-Leagues: Victory confirms Nani signing
The transfer news and rumors of Australian and A-Leagues: Victory confirms Nani signing. Portuguese star Luis Nani has finally agreed to move to Melbourne Victory.
The team announced the signing of the Portuguese star via Twitter on Tuesday with a clever video.
35-year-old Nani is all set to move from Italian side Venezia and join Tony Popović’s team on a two-year contract.
“I am excited to be coming to the A-League with Melbourne Victory and I am looking forward to the challenge ahead,” Nani said.
“I have spoken with the coach, Tony [Popović], and I know that Melbourne Victory is a club that wants to achieve success and I want to play a role in helping the team achieve that.”
“From what I have seen, the fans in Melbourne are not only the best in the league but they rival the atmosphere in Europe and I am looking forward to being a part of that on the field in a Victory shirt and playing for them this season.”
The 35-year-old had spent eight years at Old Trafford. He had won the 2008 UEFA Champions League title and four Premier League crowns and four FA Cups.
Lynch: Melbourne Victory acquiring Nani ‘sugar hit’
Nani had made 112 appearances for Portugal. He was a member of his country’s 2016 European Championship victory with Cristiano Ronaldo by his side in the team.
Most recently the veteran spent last season at Venezia in the Serie A of Italy. He had made 10 appearances in his solitary campaign with the Venice-based outfit.
“From what I have seen, the fans in Melbourne are not only the best in the league but they rival the atmosphere in Europe and I’m looking forward to being a part of that on the field in a Victory shirt and playing for them this season,” commented Nani.
The arrival of the Portuguese star Nani comes a day after Victory announced the departure of New Zealand international Marco Rojas from the club to pursue an overseas opportunity.
Nani is the seventh signing of Melbourne Victory for the upcoming campaign, with former Socceroo Tomi Juric and goalkeeper Paul Izzo among those to have joined the team of Tony Popovic.
“We’re proud to be able to recruit a player like Nani to our club and believe he will be an incredible asset for Melbourne Victory and the entire A-League,” Popovic said with great excitement and enthusiasm.
The arrival of a strong and experienced player like Nani, even at the tail end of his career, is a boost to the ALM competition after a 2021-22 campaign where crowd numbers rapidly decreased.
The chief executive of Australian Professional Leagues, Danny Townsend said in May the competition wanted clubs to look at “sugar hit” marquee names in a bid to boost the flagging profile of the league.
“I look at marquee players as ‘bums on seats’ players … marquees are genuine world-class stars and our game needs it,” Townsend said at the pre-finals function of the Western United.
“It gets criticized historically as being a bit of a sugar hit — our game needs a sugar hit.”