Manchester United legend Nani is toasting his nephew after seeing him sign for his former club.
Leonardo Varela, 17, has penned his first professional contract with Nani’s old side Sporting Lisbon.
Nani began his career with the Portuguese giants before moving to Manchester United in 2007, going on to win four Premier League titles and a Champions League.
The 39-year-old posted on Facebook: ‘Another lion! What pride to see my nephew sign his first professional contract, and with Sporting no less. Congratulations, Leonardo.’
There is not much information available on Varela, though he is listed as a midfielder standing at 5ft 6in tall.
Believe it or not, Nani is still playing. In January, he came out of his year-long retirement to sign for Kazakhstan Premier League side Aktobe.
Nani praised his nephew Leonardo Varela, 17, after he signed his first professional deal with Sporting Lisbon
The winger, 39, won four Premier League titles with Manchester United as well as the Champions League and now plays in Kazakhstan
The Euro 2016 winner signed a one-year deal which includes a wider role in the club’s development.
‘I am very excited about this new project and about the opportunity to help develop football at the club and in Kazakhstan, the winger said.
‘FC Aktobe offers excellent conditions and I was very warmly welcomed. I feel that together we can work to elevate the club not only domestically but also internationally.’
He added: ‘I was very impressed with the club’s vision for the future and will work hard to take us to new heights, at home and abroad!’
Nani has been on something of a global tour since leaving Manchester United in 2015.
Since then, he has played for 10 clubs across Turkey, Spain, Italy, the United States, Australia, Portugal, and now Kazakhstan.
He has put together a remarkable career, especially considering that he was abandoned by his parents as a child and raised by his auntie in Amadora, near Lisbon, alongside his brothers, sisters and cousins.
One time, writing for The Players’ Tribune, he recalled his living situation when he was just eight years old.
‘I was living with my mother and eight of my siblings in a one-bedroom house, which had a floor full of holes crawling with rats and lizards.
‘We had nothing to eat. We were fighting for our lives.’
He added: ‘A few years earlier, when I was seven, we were living in a wooden house that my dad had built. The roof leaked, but we just covered it with plastic whenever it rained.’
From the most unlikely of circumstances he fashioned a phenomenal career, playing 628 times at club level and on 112 occasions for his country between 2006 and 2017.
He has also notched 152 career goals, though he is still waiting for his first at Aktobe, where he has made four outings.
