United ready to cancel Anderson's contract — reports

Oh, Anderson. It was supposed to be so different. From teenage prodigy, through super-hot prospect, through big money transfer, through doing something frankly disgusting to Cesc Fabregas, into a terrible decline, and now onto the final ignominy: Manchester United, according to the Daily Telegraph, are on the point of simply cancelling his contract.

Only 26 years old, the Brazilian midfielder spent six months on loan with Fiorentina last season, though they had no interest in taking him on permanently. He was available over the summer, but nobody wanted him, and Mark Ogden's information is that United don't think he's got any chance of playing under Louis van Gaal. And given that his two appearances this season have been in the 4-0 loss against MK Dons, then the 0-0 with Burnley, you can sort of see why.

Contract cancellation would, apparently, cost £1.4m. This sort of suggests that Anderson's current value is slightly less than -£1.4m, which is not a good look for the lad. But for injuries and a chronic aversion to conditioning, who knows what might have been? Still, he scored a penalty in the 2008 European Cup final win, and so is Officially Better than Cristiano Ronaldo.