How will history remember Nani as a Manchester United player? Well, the man who played 230 games and scored 40 goals and made 73 assists for the club between 2007-2015 had great moments, winning 12 trophies including four Premier League titles.
Nani was 20 when he joined United from Sporting Lisbon. And it was hard for him at first, especially his relationship with Alex Ferguson.
“At the beginning, I was very scared of him,” the Portugal international, who now plays for Orlando City in the MLS, told the new United podcast. “Like a father, you know? To make a mistake or do something wrong, because sometimes to interact with him, I don’t know.
“I see him talking with other players and I want to be involved but I think what am I going to say, you know? I don’t know. But I was scared of him until I learned to understand and was able to express myself.
"My English has never been perfect, or going to be, but at that time it was worse than now and when he found I could speak more with him, he started coming to me and giving me more attention. And from then, I learned more about Alex Ferguson. What he wanted to do, who he was and the relationship started to be better.”
Ferguson and Nani were neighbours.
“We [the United team] used to go to London by train. His wife or his family used to leave him in the train station so on the way back he has no driver to take him so he was looking for someone who lives close to him to give him a ride.
"So I said, ‘OK boss, I’ll take you home!’ But that day, it’s so funny believe me! The day I took him home was after a game against Fulham away, and I was on the bench.”
The relationship became a good one.
“Perfect,” said Nani. “He’s a man who knows how to manage all characters, all different ages, all different personalities. My personality in that time, I was young, and not easy. I know that and I learned a lot, I changed a lot. That is life. You must learn.”
Nani also had experienced serial winning players around him to look up to and learn from. Not that he saw it at first.
“It was so important for me to have [Ryan] Giggs, [Paul] Scholes, Rio Ferdinand because they were there every time, pushing me and saying things to me.
"I was not understanding what they were doing. I thought they didn’t like me. They would just, every time, go mad at me because things didn’t go well but they saw a lot of potential in me in training and were believing a lot in me."
After a few years, things began to sink in.
“It’s one thing to listen but you try to do what they say. I tried to do what they were saying to me.
"Giggs was teaching me because he was playing in the same position and saying to me one day, I remember, ‘Nani, I know you get the defenders very tightly, marking you strongly. They focus on you and they know you cannot turn. They will be difficult when we get the ball to you, be hard on you, so wait a little bit and you change. Sometimes, stay inside a little bit, sometimes just stay and wait. Nani, take your time and you will get the ball and you will be free. That will be your time'.”
Nani credits Giggs as especially important in his development.
“He’d teach me how to make runs behind, the timing. I was listening and something about my style of game was not matching what he was saying. I recognised that from those words, seeing Scholes play, Rio’s advice. [Nemanja] Vidic – I trained a lot with him one-on-one and he was breaking my ankles! It was just friendly training! He was hard and intense but I understand to train is to be as strong as we are, hurting us, you feel the pain, you feel it’s hard but no problem.”
Nani’s game improved and he was playing with a great deal of confidence – too much on one occasion, he recalled. “We won a penalty and it was Ryan Giggs who took the penalties. I felt confident and Giggs didn’t say anything. I took the penalty and I missed!
“The penalty should have made it 3-2. We are going back home that day and I say, ‘Boss, I can take you home’. I drove him back home and he didn’t talk to me in the car. In the dressing room he killed me! He said, ‘Nani, who do you think you are? Who gave you permission to take the penalty? Ryan?’
“And then he killed Ryan Giggs, because he said, ‘Ryan, why did you let him take the penalty!’ Ryan said, ‘He grabbed the ball and I let him.’ Oh my god, that day was incredible. I took him home and I feel very uncomfortable.”
Nani had other positive influences, including Patrice Evra.
“Evra was one of the best friends I had in Manchester because, every time when I needed it, he was there to give me some advice and would come down and think what I have to do to be positive.
"He was like a brother. It was good. All the players, there were many fantastic moments and one thing I enjoyed more, what I learned, was what happened on the field stayed on the field. Outside is another life, another thing.
"We as a team, this is private, used to fight a lot in training. Not fight like this but challenge hard – everyone and someone would say he didn’t like it. He’d say, ‘Come on, what are you doing’ and it was close to a fight.
"Others would separate them and, from there, you’d go to the gym or inside to the facility, it’s gone. That’s why we were champions, the hardest team to beat. Every time it arrived, we had to be a real team to beat anyone and we were there. That’s why I get a lot of experience from that time of life I lived in Manchester.”
Now 33, Nani has since played for Fenerbahce, Valencia, Lazio, Sporting and currently Orlando and he was also a champion of Europe with Portugal in 2016, but his greatest football memories are from those at his time in Manchester.
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 760Nm
Price: Dh898,000
On sale: now
Results
5pm: Wadi Nagab – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,200m; Winner: Al Falaq, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ahmed Al Shemaili (trainer)
5.30pm: Wadi Sidr – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: AF Majalis, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: AF Fakhama, Fernando Jara, Mohamed Daggash
6.30pm: Wadi Shees – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Mutaqadim, Antonio Fresu, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-1 – Listed (PA) Dh230,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Bahar Muscat, Antonio Fresu, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7.30pm: Wadi Tayyibah – Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Poster Paint, Patrick Cosgrave, Bhupat Seemar
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
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Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Straightforward ways to reduce sugar in your family's diet
- Ban fruit juice and sodas
- Eat a hearty breakfast that contains fats and wholegrains, such as peanut butter on multigrain toast or full-fat plain yoghurt with whole fruit and nuts, to avoid the need for a 10am snack
- Give young children plain yoghurt with whole fruits mashed into it
- Reduce the number of cakes, biscuits and sweets. Reserve them for a treat
- Don’t eat dessert every day
- Make your own smoothies. Always use the whole fruit to maintain the benefit of its fibre content and don’t add any sweeteners
- Always go for natural whole foods over processed, packaged foods. Ask yourself would your grandmother have eaten it?
- Read food labels if you really do feel the need to buy processed food
- Eat everything in moderation
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1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
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3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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Company info
Company name: Entrupy
Co-founders: Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder/chief executive, Ashlesh Sharma, co-founder/chief technology officer, Lakshmi Subramanian, co-founder/chief scientist
Based: New York, New York
Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.
Initial investment/Investors: Entrupy secured a $2.6m Series A funding round in 2017. The round was led by Tokyo-based Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities Group's jointly established venture arm, DG Lab Fund I Investment Limited Partnership, along with Zach Coelius.
Total customers: Entrupy’s customers include hundreds of secondary resellers, marketplaces and other retail organisations around the world. They are also testing with shipping companies as well as customs agencies to stop fake items from reaching the market in the first place.
