Anderson is back in training at Carrington after doing his cruciate last season. The Brazilian midfielder had a problem with his attitude before his injury, becoming fed up of not starting after disappointing displays.

Eye-brows were again raised when Anderson was involved in a car crash in the small hours after spending all night in a night-club, just before he was due back in Manchester to continue the rehabilitation work. Questions were raised whether he still had a future at the club, particularly if he came up on drink-driving charge, but never materialised and now he’s looking to the future.

“I’m so happy and excited to be back again after six months without football,” Anderson said. “I’ve been really excited to be back. I’ve been so happy ever since I got back to Carrington and I just can’t wait to play again. I’m feeling good. I’ve been training for two weeks and I’m very happy. I think maybe very soon I’ll come back again and start playing normally with the rest of the team. I have had no problems at all with the injury. I’m just running and training now really hard, so I can come back and train normally with the team. I think the new season will be very difficult because a lot of teams are becoming strong. But in pre-season we have looked very strong and I think we will come again this season and we will aim to win everything.”

He’s certainly making the right noises but we’ll just have to hope this is backed up on the pitch. The success of our seasons depends on whether our central midfielders, particularly Anderson and Michael Carrick, can raise their game this season.