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Date of Birth: Wednesday, April 13, 1988
Birth Place: Brazil
Height: 175cm
Position: Midfielder
Former Clubs/Teams: FC Porto, Grêmio

Biography

Anderson is a midfielder for Brazil and Manchester United in the English Premier League. He started out his career as a ‘trequartista’ – operating as an attacking midfielder behind the strikers, but since his arrival at Manchester United he has been used in a more deep-lying defensive midfielder position, with great success. He has become a cult hero at Old Trafford, as he was at Gremio, and is ear-marked to take over from Paul Scholes, when the Ginger Assassin hangs up his boots.

Childhood

Anderson was born on 13th April 1988, in Porto Alegre in Brazil. He was a talented young player, and was signed up by local club Gremio in his teens. Whilst playing in the youth teams Anderson looked up to Ronaldinho, who made his name at Gremio. Anderson earned comparisons with his hero, not least when he was playing in the U-17 Brazil team as goal-scoring attacking midfielder – he took home the Golden Boot Award for scoring the most goals.

Early Career

Gremio were in the second division b the time Anderson was pushed into the first-team, aged 16. He earned legendary status at Gremio by scoring the goal that saw the club promoted to the top division – made all the more impressive by the fact that they only had 7 players left on the pitch, and the opposition had just missed a penalty!

He never played for Gremio again - his fame earned him a move to Porto, for an undisclosed fee, in December 2005. He played just three games as he settled into life in Portugal, doing just enough to win a league-title medal. He played his way into the first-team proper for 06/07, but his promising career was temporarily held up by a broken leg – ending his season early.

Current Club

Anderson had only just started recuperation on his leg when Manchester United launched an £18m bid for him, and he duly signed for the Reds on May 30th 2007, along with Nani. Sir Alex Ferguson saw Anderson as more of a ball-winning midfielder, so played him behind Paul Scholes and Carlos Tevez. His tough-tackling and winning mentality ensured that he soon became a hero of the fans, and his brilliant penalty in the sudden-death penalty shootout in the Champions League Final saw his star rise even further.

International

Anderson has represented his country at the various youth levels – winning the U-17 World Championships Golden Boot, as well as captaining the U-18s team. He was taken to the Olympic Games in Beijing, winning the Bronze medal after losing to the Argentinean U-23 team. He was called up to the Brazil first-team on 27th June 2007, and is now a regular squad member.