Anderson may have quit Manchester United last season: Sir Alex Ferguson
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson confessed that former FC Porto midfielder Anderson had thought about quitting the club last season.
Anderson had a difficult season last year where he just couldn’t find form. This led to more bench appearances for the Brazilian and media reports signalled towards a possible transfer. Many claimed that the player should have been sold out of Old Trafford in the January transfer window. However, the player stayed put at United, in an attempt to fight for his place. Misery didn’t stop there for the 22-year-old as he suffered a cruciate knee ligament while playing against West Ham, putting a premature end to his season.
Currently, the player is now on the road to recovery and happily resumed his training with United on Thursday. It would only be a matter of time before he makes his much awaited return and may well feature against Fulham at Craven Cottage. Ferguson claimed that the injury break has given Anderson enough time to re-assess his future at the club and was happy to have the midfielder back amongst the ranks at United.
While talking to the press, the manager claimed that Anderson has incredible talent and the player just loves to train and play. Ferguson added that he wants to play every game and train every day in order to quench his thirst for football. Manchester United manager however claimed that owing to his age, the Brazilian lacks the maturity needed to understand how the squad is operated at Old Trafford. At United, there is nothing known as a confirmed starting XI and Anderson thought about leaving the club owing to him not featuring in every game.
"When he does understand that, he will be a fantastic player here but last season he was talking about leaving because he was not playing in every game,” claimed Sir Alex Ferguson. The manager claimed that the extended break may have given Anderson more time to analyze his situation and understand how the team works. Ferguson now believes that the break might bring his mind back into the game and hopefully he can fully utilize the player’s massive talent. Ferguson claimed that maybe it was good for the player’s career that he was injured for a longer than expected period, as this would’ve given him enough time to ponder over the entire situation.
Ferguson added that he didn’t wish the player to change his overall hunger for football as it is delightful to watch a player wanting to play in every second of every match. The manager admitted that someone with such enthusiasm for the game needs to be carefully handled as pushing him too much may lose the players charm. Ferguson confessed that he never wanted the player to leave United and just wanted Anderson to get all thoughts out of his system.
The manager was delighted to see the player back in training and claimed that since his return to Manchester, the player has been restless for playing and has the same enthusiasm for the game. Ferguson confirmed that everyone at Old Trafford was well aware of the player’s quality and will soon get his opportunity to play.
Since joining United from Porto in 2007, Anderson has made 99 appearances for United, scoring just one goal. Sir Alex Ferguson was greatly impressed by the player’s ability back in Portugal, which led the Red Devils paying in the region of 18 million pounds for the services of the teenager. Last season, the player reportedly went to his homeland in Brazil without the clubs permission, leading to a reported 80,000 pound fine for disobeying orders. This only added fuel to fire to the speculations surrounding the player and many expected that the out of favour midfielder would soon be sold out in the January transfer window.
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