Manchester United player profile - Anderson

Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira, more commonly known as Anderson, Manchester United and Brazil midfield footballer, was born on 13 April 1988 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. As a youth player Anderson joined Brazilian Serie B side Grêmio where he progressed to the senior side making his debut in 2005. Anderson became a legend at Grêmio as the scorer of the only goal in a promotion playoff against Nautico that lifted the club back into Serie A. In December 2005 Anderson signed for Portuguese side Porto and made his debut three months later on 05 March 2006 helping the club win the Portuguese Championship. The following 06/07 season saw Anderson debut in the UEFA Champions League against CSKA Moscow but in the same season he broke his leg and found himself sidelined for five months of Porto's campaign.

In spite of the injury that kept Anderson out for most of the 06/07 season it was no secret that Manchester United were interested in signing him and confirmation of Anderson's move to the English Premier League came before he had been officially signed. A month or so later as expected Manchester United unveiled Anderson as their latest signing on 02 July 2007. Four days prior to his signing Anderson made his international debut with the Brazilian national side in a Copa America match against Mexico. Anderson's midfield debut for Manchester United came on 03 August 2007 in a pre-season friendly against Doncaster Rovers, his Premier League debut came a month later on 01 September 2007 in a match against Sunderland when he was substituted at half time.

Anderson made his UEFA Champions League just over two weeks later this time coming on as a subtitute against Sporting CP. Anderson had a medal winning first season with Manchester United as they did the double winning both the 2008 English Premier League and UEFA Champions League, he went on to win a Bronze medal with Brazil at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.