Anderson, the Man Utd midfielder was involved in a car accident in Portugal which left him unconscious.
He was in an Audi sports car driving down a rural road with two other friends after spending the night partying in a Braga night spot till the wee hours of the morning. It was unclear who was driving but at some point the car lost control and slammed into the wall of a farm before bursting into flames.
Luckily for them, the residents of that farming community were at hand to pull them out of the burning car and the farmer who saved Anderson at first thought that he was dead. All three passengers were taken to a hospital where the good news was they were treated for the relatively minor signs and symptoms of concussion, whiplash and shock.
There could be charges of drink driving and excess passengers as the Audi was a two seater. Anderson was also coming off a season ending ACL injury in February which required surgery and long term rehabilitation.
Anderson was a highly touted talent for Sir Alex when he was brought into the club as an attacking midfielder in 2007.
He and Nani were the heirs apparent for Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes but over the years had lost that aspect of the game becoming more of a pitbull in the backfield as he and Michael Carrick took over the job of relaying the ball to the more attacking players in front. It took him two years and 78 appearances to record his first goal for the club – a big drop off from his Gremio and Porto days.
Part of the reason why there appears to be no pressure on Giggs and Scholes to clock out their playing careers is because of the unwanted metamorphosis of Anderson and the work in progress he represents.
There are reports of a strained relationship between Sir Alex over disciplinary and performance issues. Anderson has some good facets to his game- he tracks back well and is a good tackler but he tends to be sloppy giving the ball away on a number of occasions. Not a sign of a good ball carrier and definitely not ready to step into Paul Scholes shoes. Basically, this is the last season where Anderson can make a definitive statement otherwise his future in United appears bleak.