On the other hand, Anderson might be the perfect case to describe how an athlete’s behavior off the pitch can prevent him from fulfillinghis potential. The Brazilian, who hung up his boots in 2020, got to play for the likes of Porto and Manchester United back in the day but struggled to succeed.

However, some of his former teammates at Old Trafford agree that he had everything to become the best player on Earth if he wanted to, but the problem was that he didn’t seem to care about it.

Former Man Utd player Anderson could have been ‘world’s best’, ex-teammates say

“He could have been the best player in the world at one point, I promise you he could have,”Ben Foster, current Watford goalkeeper who played with Anderson at United, toldUTD Podcast. “Everybody would say that he could have been the best in the world at one point.But he just didn’t care, he didn’t care about anything. Honestly, he didn’t care about anything. But you put him on a pitch and he was like that.”

Former United right-back Rafael shares the same vision about Anderson. “I will say something about Anderson – if he had been a professional football player, he could have been the best in the world,” wrote Rafael in his autobiography alongside twin brother Fabio.“I’m saying this was all seriousness. I don’t know if he ever took anything seriously.He just loved life in such an easy and casual way. In some ways that was a quality. It was what made him so popular and one of the most popular players at the club. But he would just eat whatever was put in front of him.

“We could be on the team coach and pass the services on the motorway and Anderson would jump up impulsively and yell ‘McDonald’s, McDonald’s’,“Rafael added. “The guy was crazy, but I love him. Give him a football and he would just play with freedom and sometimes, if he got a good run of games, he could play as well as any player in the league.He picked up a lot of big injuries and then his problems with eating the way he did started to affect him.It was no coincidence that his best form came when he had a lot of games because that was when he couldn’t eat so much.”

Anderson made his professional debutat just 16 years of age with Brazilian giants Gremioin 2004 and only a year later he signed for Porto. He would move to Manchester United in 2007, where he was part of manysuccessful teams but struggled to shine with weight problems and injuries. He joined Fiorentina on loan in 2014 before going back to Brazil in 2015, first playing for Inter and eventually joining Coritiba. After a stint at Turkish club Adana Demirspor, Anderson retired from soccer at only 31 years of age.