Manucho displays star quality

(CNN) -- With its close ties to Portugal, it is perhaps a surprise that Angola hasn't made more of an impression on African football before now. The country's bloody 27-year civil war, which only ended in 2002 perhaps explains why it hasn't.

But after surprisingly reaching the finals of the World Cup for the first time two years ago, Angola may finally have discovered the player to take the national game to a new level.

With three goals in two games at the African Nations Cup -- two of them on Sunday in Angola's mightily impressive 3-1 win over continental heavyweights Senegal -- Manucho could become the sort of inspirational figure for his country as Samuel Eto'o, Didier Drogba and Emmanuel Adebayor have for theirs.

A win or a draw over Tunisia on Thursday would take Manucho and the Black Antelopes into the quarterfinals of the competition for the first time in their country's footballing history.

Surprisingly for a decent African center forward of 24, Manucho is yet to play in Europe, starring for the past couple of years in Angolan domestic football with Luanda club side Petro Atletico.

All that is about to change however; Manucho spent a three-week trial at Manchester United at the end of last year and did well enough to earn a three-year contract at Old Trafford, work visa issues permitting.

The player's form in Ghana should help his cause in that department, although there is talk of a loan deal to Greece until the end of the season should his references not prove to the satisfaction of the UK Home Office.

At first glance, an untried Angolan striker with barely more than a dozen international appearances to his name and messy paperwork looks like an unnecessary wild card signing for a club with deep enough pockets to buy pretty much anyone they wanted.

But Manucho is a product of the trusted scouting network set up by United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz, which has already brought a core of Portuguese-speaking players, notably Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson, to the club.

"I have found the adaptation easy because all the players have given me their support and players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson all speak my language," Manucho said after being unveiled as a United player.

With his goals against South Africa and Senegal -- a flying header from the edge of the penalty area, a towering back post header and a messy, scrambled toe-in on the goal line from under the noses of five Senegalese defenders -- Manucho has also showed the instinct for goals of the kind of old fashioned center forward United have lacked since Ruud van Nistelrooy departed for Real Madrid.

"I have been a fan of Manchester United from when I was very young, so now I will work very hard to get into the first team," he says. "I am very happy to be here and I have worked very hard to make my dream a reality."

In truth, an initial loan spell at a less high-profile club may do no harm at all to the long-term prospects of a player currently facing the daunting prospect of displacing either Carlos Tevez or Wayne Rooney from the United first team, but Manucho's arrival could well spell the end of the road at Old Trafford for the increasingly ineffectual Louis Saha.

United manager Alex Ferguson has admitted he is prepared to give Manucho the time he needs to adjust to the English game but it is a measure of the impression he has made in training already that Ferguson compares him favorably to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, one of the club's most effective impact players from the substitutes' bench of the past decade.

"He's done very well in training and you never know how players will progress," says Ferguson. "I said the same things about Solskjaer when he arrived. I thought I'd give him a year or two in the reserves, but after three or four games he was in the first team.

"It all boils down to the boy himself, how he adapts to the change and how he commits himself to learning. Every young player has to learn." E-mail to a friend