Manchester United may buy Sotiris Ninis to end midfield woes
The Manchester United midfield woes are clear to all and sundry. It was their lack of attacking impetus that cost them the trophy last season. Although, it was a remarkable feat to push a team of Chelsea’s class to the last day, Manchester United faced a slew of problems that could have changed the game.
Had Rooney not gotten injured on a that fateful day in Munich, had Dimitar Berbatov taken his chances towards the later part of the season, had United had an attacking midfielder capable of scoring goals and had United’s midfield been able to provide their attackers with better chances United would have been celebrating their 19th Premier League title and there is no doubt about that. After all they just missed out by a solitary point in the end.
United’s business in the summer has not been noteworthy. They only bought 4 youngsters in Marnick Vermajil, Bebe, Cris Smalling and Javier Hernandez, none of whom is a midfielder and midfield was United’s Achilles heel last season.
There are reports in the market that United are willing to trigger a buy-out clause in the contract of Panathanikos forward Sotiris Ninis. The Greek international is a sublime talent that already has more than 60 appearances for his club along with 7 international caps to his credit but what exactly does the world know about him?
Ninis was born on the 3rd of April 1990 in Himara, Albania. He is a Greek footballer and plays his international football for the Galanolefki.
Ninis is naturally an attacking midfielder, who is also comfortable playing on the right wing. He started learning his trade at the Athens based Apollon Smyrni’s Academy from where Panathanikos snapped him up at the tender age of 14.
The sublime talent was offered his first 5 year professional contract in the December of 2006 and made his league debut again Egaleo in January 2007. Unfazed by the audacity of the occasion he walked away with the man of the match award in his very first outing and after scoring his first goal in the 4-1 rout against local rivals AEK Athens, he became a darling of the fans in Athens.
On the 15th of February Sotiris became the youngest ever Greek player to play in the Champions League when he took the field against Lens. Sotiris capped his remarkable rise with the Greek equivalent of PFA young player of the year award in the December of 2007, the youngest ever Greek player to achieve the feat.
What happens next season was nothing short of a sublime tragedy as the youngsters suffered a series of injuries including the twanging hamstrings, blamed on the number of games he had already played at the tender age of 16. He was dropped from the first team for the rest of the season.
In 2008-09 season, the arrival of Ex-Chelsea assistant manager, Henk ten Cate, at the helm, Sotiris was restored to the first team and was also given the captain’s armband, the youngest ever player to captain his side. Since then he has gone on to make over 60 appearances for his club and scoring six goals along the way.
In 2007 he rejected a chance to represent Albania, the country of his birth and opted to play for the Greeks and helped them reach the runners-up position in the 2007 European Under-19 championships also bagging the honours of the best player of the tournament.
Sotiris continued his remarkable rise to the senior side and became the youngest ever goal scorer for Greece when he scored within 5 minutes of his international debut against Cyprus in May of 2008.
Sotiris was also part of the Greek national side at the summer’s World Cup in South Africa but being an attack minded player he never stood a chance of playing in a defence minded outfit making only two appearances from the bench against Nigeria and Argentina in the competition.
Since then he has been linked with a number of European clubs including the likes of AC Milan, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and of course Manchester United. And it now seems that he is ever closer to a dream move to Old Trafford.
Tags: