Anderson – The Forgotten Wonderkid

Stumble and snap. Those were our # 8′s last two actions of last season as a tear to his cruciate ligament curtailing an indifferent season for him.

Back in the summer of 2007, when we signed him and Nani in a double deal worth a combined £30m I was uncontrollably excited by the prospect of both rising stars. After several months settling into their new environment, the Premier League, while Nani was taking it by storm it was Anderson who really caught my eye. After a dubious enough debut in the 1-0 victory over Sunderland at Old Trafford, he came into his own. Game by game his confidence was soaring as he thrived being Hargreaves’ partner in a dynamic central midfield. Only for Scholes’ injury earlier in the season, Ando would never have gotten this chance, but he took the bull by the horns and one of his greatest moments was to follow. He outplayed, outshone and outfought Cesc Fabregas on 3rd November in the Emirates that season. I couldn’t help but think he was the new Roy Keane. Premature it may have been at the time but I’ve always believed in that since up to this day. His season went from strength to strength from there as his swashbuckling, all-action style of play earned him cult status among the OT faithful where a genius little chant was drummed up for him! His wide range of passing ability from defence-splitting balls, to nippy, short passes to accurate 50 yard diagonal passes the lad had it all along with his seaing pace and willingness to get stuck in for the tackle. He even made a mockery of Steven Gerrard when Ando made his Anfield debut. And his season ended on a major high when he netted a crucial sudden death penalty in that magical Moscow night where he added a Champions League medal to his newly acquired Premier League one.

After such a memorable maiden season, it wouldv’e been hard to expect him to surpass a better one at the tender age of 20. And unfortunately he didn’t live up to the heights of the 07/08 season despite winning the title yet again. It was looking like he missed his partner, Owen Hargreaves, as they destroyed teams up and down the country as well as abroad.

Then his 3rd season came and went too too fast.

Again, he started off subtly and then he sparked into life in our 3-1 win at White Hart Lane as he finally slammed home his first ever Manchester United goal in a competetive fixture. (Earlier in pre-season he scored a perfect free-kick in off the intersection of crossbar and post and celebrated with a Maichael Jackson style dance!)  It set us on our way to another victory. It started off a spell in which Anderson captured some great form where he got 1 goals and 7 assists in 9 games which is outstanding for any midfielder, particularly one which is deployed usually to protect the back four. However, the fairytale ends there as he went over on his anterior cruciate ligament and straight away we feared the worse. 6 months out and to add insult to injury, his World Cup dream over. I think it’s more of a coincidence that we ended trophyless when Ando wasn’t there to drive us on from midfield.

So I don’t sound completely biased, he did have his share of shocking performances which you can expect from a youngster learning their trade in the very physical Premier League. But it was his maiden season form which to this day makes me still wholeheartedly agree that he will be the king of midfield for the coming years. The highly energized Brazilian will terrorise the like of Gerrard and Fabregas once more (Unless they jump ship this summer!) and we’ll hear the United fans from the Stretty End chanting

Anderson-son-son

once again!

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