Ahead of the Europa League clash between Manchester United and Barcelona, Catalan outlet Sport today features an interview with a player from the Red Devils who faced the Camp Nou side in the 2009 and 2011 Champions League finals.
That’s Brazilian midfielder Anderson, who won the Golden Boy prize in 2008 and was considered to be one of the most promising youngsters of that generation.
It’s fair to say things didn’t go as expected for him, as his career at Manchester United only lasted until 2015, when he was released by the club and ended up returning to his home country.
Now when interviewed by Sport, besides speaking of tonight’s game against Barcelona, he also answered to some personal questions, with one of them mentioning that many people said he could’ve been one of the best players in the world.
“If I had had 5% of the mentality of Cristiano Ronaldo, I could have been among the best in the world,” Anderson told Sport.
“I assume it now. I had talent, quality. With a little more head… I had a nice career because I won many things, but I could have gone much further. You have to be honest. With 5% of Cristiano… I would still play at the first level now, easily”.
Sport also asked Anderson if regrets any decision he made in his career.
“I regret not having been a little professional, of not having listened to the people who recommended me and spoke to me. Rafael tells the truth, I can’t be a hypocrite. If I had been more focused on football… I had plenty of quality. My head didn’t help. Over time you realise things. Football has changed, before it was more difficult, now it’s easy. Things change, today any very physical player who knows how to run a lot is worth it. He doesn’t have to think as much.”
After leaving Manchester United, Anderson played for Internacional and Coritiba in Brazil.
In 2018, he spent most of the year without a club, and despite a one-year spell at Turkish side Adana Demirspor in 2019, that was his last year as a professional footballer.
