Brotherly love takes unusual forms. Or it does in the Ferguson family, anyway.
One of the stranger passages in Sir Alex Ferguson’s autobiography concerned his younger sibling, Martin, whom he employed as Manchester United’s chief European scout.
It is scarcely an endorsement of his brother’s judgement.
He went to watch a target and reported back. The former manager wrote: “Martin said: ‘Alex, he’s better than [Wayne] Rooney.’ Martin was adamant.”
Perhaps it is just as well that Martin Ferguson, now 71, is retired. Anderson, the player in question, is now deemed worse than Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Tom Cleverley, Ryan Giggs, Phil Jones and Marouane Fellaini, the six men who have been preferred to him in the centre of Manchester United’s midfield this season.
Rather than outperforming Rooney, his fortunes have floundered to such an extent that he has started only one game since September. He is set to become the first man exiled by David Moyes, going on loan to Fiorentina as they aim to qualify for the Uefa Champions League.
It is a competition that has helped define Anderson. As a 20-year-old substitute, he nervelessly converted a penalty in the 2008 final shoot-out victory over Chelsea. Twelve months later, left dazed and confused by the carousel of Barcelona’s perpetual passing, he was replaced at half time in the Rome final.
Nevertheless, it was a time when the Brazilian was one of Ferguson’s resident big-game players.
And, in Martin Ferguson’s defence, that was a reputation he had established even before he arrived in Manchester as a teenager.
Anderson was named the player of the tournament in the 2005 Under 17 World Cup. He joined Porto the following year and, among United’s influx from Portugal, was bought by Ferguson for £20 million (Dh119.9m) in 2007.
It was a swift rise. If anything, it gathered pace. A bullish performance away against Arsenal in November 2008 established him as a fan favourite.
His debut campaign at Old Trafford culminated in United being crowned English and European champions.
His second season seemed to cement a status as an energetic, effective player who was unafraid of big moments.
Arsenal formed favourite opponents, forever unsettled by his propensity to hassle and harry them. His United career arguably peaked in the 2009 Champions League semi-final when Anderson was terrific as Ferguson’s game plan worked perfectly.
Even a chastening experience against Barcelona seemed a blip.
“He has a Brazilian belief in his own ability and he is going to become a top player,” said Ferguson later in 2009. “He is going to be a top player.” So it seemed.
But this decade has been less kind. There was a cruciate knee injury in 2010, and he was hurt in a car crash while still sidelined.
A chunky figure was told to lose weight by Ferguson. One Old Trafford insider commented sardonically that his departure would be terrible news for the local branch of a famous fast-food chain.
His career became a stop-start affair. There were ill-timed injuries and continuing questions about what sort of player he is.
Until hurt in December 2012, he threatened to reinvent himself as a goalscoring midfielder. At other points, he has been cast as a creator or a box-to-box bustler.
There was a memorable, if brief phase, as the sole defensive presence and lone ball-winner in a cavalier front six when United began the 2011/12 season with an extraordinary flurry of goals, but his standing as the man for marquee matches was dented in Manchester City’s 6-1 derby win at Old Trafford.
Perhaps, with the benefit of hindsight, it was the beginning of the end for him; certainly it was the first of six losses in seven games with him in the line-up, spread over 10 months, a remarkable losing run given the club’s record.
The initial hints were that Moyes admired him. West Bromwich Albion’s 2-1 win at Old Trafford in September marked a watershed, however; it was Anderson’s 70th and last league start for United.
It is a low figure, given his six-and-a-half years service, and indicates he has rarely been an automatic choice.
And so it falls to Fiorentina to solve the Anderson enigma before he is dismissed as a player who peaked at 20 and whose potential, if never Rooney-esque, will not be realised.
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