Golden Boy's fall from grace: How a former Manchester United star ended up in prison

In 2007, Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United, a powerhouse in football, signed a young Brazilian midfielder with a baby face and distinctive dreadlocks. We're of course talking about Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira, aka Anderson.

The Red Devils paid 25 million euros (£21.3 million, $27.2 million) to Porto for the 19-year-old who was expected to be a generational player and who had already excelled at Gremio in Porto Alegre.

His arrival in Manchester could not have been more successful. In 2008 alone he won the Golden Boy ( the best European footballer under 21 years of age), the Premier League and the Champions League, scoring one of his team's goals in the penalty shoot-out. The match ended 1-1.

Want to see more like this? Follow us here for daily sports news, profiles and analysis!

Sixteen years have passed since then and Anderson's life has gone worse than Manchester United itself, which is saying a lot. The former player was arrested earlier in September 2024 and will have to go to prison.

The reason for his arrest was a non-payment of child support for his two children, for which he was sentenced to 30 days in prison at the Irmao Miguel Dário Penal Institute, according to Goal.

However, the Family Court of Porto Alegre gives him room to pay the debt – reportedly worth £45,000 ($56,000, €53,000) – if he does, the arrest warrant against him will be withdrawn.

The problem for Anderson is that this is not his first run-in with the law. In 2021, the Brazilian was accused of money laundering with cryptocurrencies and alleged embezzlement on the stock exchange, as reported by Yahoo Finance.

The key question many are asking is: How did Anderson go from being one of football’s brightest prospects 15 years ago to facing legal troubles, family issues, and complete obscurity in the sport? Well, a poor diet and lack of professionalism played a major role.

Want to see more like this? Follow us here for daily sports news, profiles and analysis!

"If he had been a more professional player, he would have been the best in the world. But he just ate up whatever was put in front of him. I don't know if he ever took anything seriously. He loved life." That was Rafael Da Silva (right in the photo), Anderson's teammate at United, take on the issue, which he revealed in his biography 'The Sunshine Kids: Fabio & Rafael Da Silva'.

"He could have been the best player in the world but he didn't care," Ben Foster, a goalkeeper with whom he played for three seasons at Manchester, told the UTD podcast in 2022.

And all this under the command of a football legend like Sir Alex Ferguson. Obviously, when Anderson left Manchester, his career plummeted. Even more so than it had already done at United, where he played 181 games and scored 9 goals.

After playing for Fiorentina, Inter Milan and Coritiba, Anderson ended up at Turkish side Adana Demirspor in the 2018/2019 season, where he played just 15 games. The 31-year-old retired at the end of that season.

And that's how one of the greatest talents of the 21st century squandered the gifts he had.

Want to see more like this? Follow us here for daily sports news, profiles and analysis!