Sir Alex Ferguson has backed Anderson to become
Manchester United's next midfield legend as he prepares to unleash
the Brazilian and his fellow Old Trafford young guns against
Queen's Park Rangers on Tuesday.
The Premier League champions, stung by Saturday's 2-1 league
defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, face Championship
outfit QPR in the League Cup fourth round with boss Ferguson ready
to rest his established stars.
Promising youngsters Jonny Evans, Rodrigo Possebon, Darron
Gibson and Danny Welbeck are all set to be handed the chance to
shine.
But Ferguson admits that 20-year-old Anderson, a 19 million
pounds buy from Porto 18 months ago, is the player that he has the
highest hopes for amongst his young crop when it comes to emulating
the likes of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes.
Ferguson said: "Anderson is a different type of player
altogether to Roy Keane, but when you are looking for that central
midfield player - we've got Scholes who is coming to the end of his
career, Roy Keane has left us to try his hand at management - you
say, 'who is going to function for Manchester United?'
"Then a 19-year-old lad comes in and you see his performance
level. You know he is going to become a terrific player and life
moves on. United move on, it's inevitable.
"Our style has changed over the last few years. We've got
different types of players to ten years ago, so you cannot
replicate every team with identical players.
"When I first came here they used to say Bryan Robson was king
and you cannot win a game without him. I began to believe it as
well because we didn't operate as well without him.
"We had to change the mentality - change the mental toughness.
They thought you could never find another Robson, but then Roy
Keane came along and filled the breach marvellously.
"Then they thought you would never get another Keane, but then
someone like Anderson steps through the door and the cycle just
keeps going."
