Nani has revealed that living with Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo turned into a daily competition.
Winger Nani arrived at Old Trafford in 2007 after following in compatriot Ronaldo's footsteps from Sporting Lisbon.
Ronaldo had already been in Manchester for four years and had already settled with a luxury house.
And instead of being placed in a hotel, Nani, and another new recruit Anderson, was offered the chance to shack up with the future Real Madrid and Juventus superstar.
But instead of being a chilled out zone, there were regular swimming, table tennis and tennis contests between the trio.
Nani told the Players’ Tribune : “Not many mentioned Manchester United. But my agent, Jorge Mendes, wrote down the names of all the clubs and said, 'For me, the best team you can choose is this one'. He pointed at Man Utd.
“'I spoke with Sir Alex. He wants to build you up the same way he built up Cristiano'.
“Before I knew it, I was looking for a house in Manchester.
“At the start I was supposed to move into a hotel, but Jorge asked me 'Would you mind staying with Cristiano?'
“So I moved in with him and Anderson, who had just arrived at Man Utd.
“Cristiano had a swimming pool, a ping-pong table, a tennis court — and every day we would compete at something.
“By the time Anderson and I left that house, we had become allergic to defeat.
“Sir Alex was like a father to me. Guys like Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs gave me so much good advice.
“I became friends with Antonio Valencia, Fabio and Rafael, Cristiano, Anderson and many others.”
