Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira, best known as Anderson, was born in 13 April 1988 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. His regular position is as an attacking midfielder although since his arrival at Old Trafford he has displayed strong defensive capabilities which is complemented by his low centre of gravity and workrate.

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.

On 30 May 2007, it was confirmed on the Manchester United website that the club had agreed, in principle, to sign Anderson from FC Porto for an undisclosed fee, reported to be approximately £17m.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. 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. He was given the number 8 jersey for the 2007-08 season, the number worn by Wayne Rooney the season before.

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 Lisbon, 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 26th September 2007, in a team consisting almost entirely of youth and reserve team players. Manchester United lost 2-0; however, Sir Alex Ferguson had gone on to say that he was one of the best of a very poor bunch which played in that match.

On 6 October 2007, Anderson came on for Nemanja Vidić who suffered a concussion in Manchester United's home win against Wigan and put in what was described as his best performance of the season so far. He then made his first Champions League start on 23 October 2007 as he put in a man of the match performance to help United to a 4-2 win over Dynamo Kiev. His recent performances have drawn attention and credit by pundits. He put in great performances against Arsenal and Liverpool, which made people stand up and notice.

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.

>>>BACK TO PROFILES LIST<<<