Anderson

About

Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira born 13 April 1988 in Porto Alegre Brazil, best known as Anderson, is a Brazilian footballer currently playing for Manchester United. His regular position is as an attacking midfielder, although since his arrival at Old Trafford he is employed as a box to box midfielder.

Background

Club Football

Grêmio

Anderson joined Grêmio as a youth player and in 2005 he made his first appearance for the team, playing 5 Brazilian Série B games in the second half of the year, as well as playing in the 2005 Gaúcho State Championship in the first half. He earned himself iconic status by scoring the goal that lifted Grêmio back into Serie A in a promotion playoff against Nautico. This goal was particularly memorable because Grêmio only had seven players on the pitch at the time and had just seen the opposition have a penalty saved. The goal gave Grêmio a 1-0 victory in the most unlikely of circumstances.

FC Porto

He joined FC Porto in December 2005 after only 5 first team appearances at a national level with Gremio, and made his league debut on 5 March 2006, playing a part in helping the team seal the Portuguese Championship that season. The following season, he made his UEFA Champions League debut in Porto's first group game against CSKA Moscow. However, Anderson was forced to miss five months of the 2006-07 season due to a broken leg.

Manchester United

On 30 May 2007, the Manchester United website confirmed that the club had agreed in principle to sign Anderson from FC Porto for an undisclosed fee, reported to be approximately £18m. On 29 June 2007, he was granted a work permit to play in England, and the move was completed on 2 July, with Anderson signing a five-year contract. Anderson was friends with Portuguese speaking team mates, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani prior to joining the club. He made his Manchester United debut on 3 August 2007, playing 45 minutes of a pre-season friendly against Doncaster Rovers, which United won 2-0.

Anderson made his competitive debut for Manchester United against Sunderland on 1 September 2007. He was substituted at half time and replaced by Louis Saha, who went on to score the winning goal. Anderson later went on to make his Champions League debut against Sporting, coming on as a substitute for Ryan Giggs in the 76th minute. He played the full 90 minutes in the Carling Cup match against Coventry City on 26 September 2007, in a team consisting almost entirely of youth and reserve team players. Manchester United lost 2-0; however, Alex Ferguson went on to say that he was one of the best of a very poor bunch which played in that match.

International Football

Brazil:

In April 2005, he played for Brazil in the South American U-17 Championship, and the following October he won the Adidas Golden Ball with his national team at the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Anderson made his international debut for the Brazil national football team on 27 June 2007 in their 2-0 loss in a Copa América encounter with Mexico, coming on as a substitute. He made his first start for Brazil on 1 July 2007 against Chile in a 3-0 victory.

He has recently been called up to Dunga's Brazil squad for the first time since the Copa América to face Republic of Ireland in February, where Brazil won 1:0.

International Goals

Awards and Honours

Grêmio
Campeonato Brasileiro Série B: 2005

Porto
Portuguese Championship: 2005-06, 2006-07
Taça de Portugal: 2005-06
SuperCup Cândido de Oliveira: 2006-07

Manchester United
FA Community Shield: 2007
Barclays Premier League: 2007-08
UEFA Champions League: 2007-2008

International
Copa America: 2007

Personal Awards

Career Statistics

M = Matches, G = Goals, A = Assists

Personal Info

Wife / Girlfriend

Sponsors

Important Links

References