Ex-Man Utd star says teammate could have been 'best in world' if he 'didn't love McDonald's so much'

A former Manchester United player has explained how his teammate could’ve been ‘the best in the world’ if he didn’t enjoy eating food from McDonald’s so much.

When you think of the modern-day Premier League footballer, McDonald’s is not something you associate with consummate professionals, especially Premier League winners.

But for a former United star, he seemingly struck a perfect ‘work-life-balance’ during his time at Old Trafford.

Cast your mind back to the summer of 2007. Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs starred for Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.

But a fresh-faced Brazilian called Anderson arrived at the club from Porto.

At the time, the midfielder was just 19 and showed huge promise ahead of the £26m move from the Portuguese club.

But he failed to reach the heights expected of him during his eight-year spell at the club, although he left for Internacional in 2015 with four Premier League titles, a Champions League, a League Cup and a Club World Cup to show for his efforts.

His former teammate Rafael da Silva may have given a clue as to why Anderson’s time at United did not play out as once hoped.

In 2021, the Brazilian released a joint autobiography ‘The Sunshine Kids’ alongside his twin brother Fabio da Silva, who also used to play for United.

In the book, he told a particularly interesting story regarding Anderson and his love for the fast-food giant McDonald’s.

Anderson played in the 2009 Champions League final against Barcelona (Credit:Getty)

"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'," explained Rafael.

"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.

"I will say something about Anderson - if he had been a professional football player, he could have been the best in the world.

"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."

And his love for a beef burger may have come in handy. Anderson’s former teammate Rio Ferdinand revealed to Peter Crouch that the Brazilian had a dream of earning enough money so he could buy “50 cows” in Brazil.

"Anderson told Rio Ferdinand, 'I'm going to earn enough money so I can buy 50 cows in Brazil,'” Crouch explained while speaking on ‘That Peter Crouch Podcast’.

"He did and I believe now he has got hundreds of cows.

"It's what he wanted to achieve - he could have a farm."