Foster claims Man Utd prodigy could've been world's best but "just didn't care"

Former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster has declared that Anderson could have been "the best player in the world" - if only he had applied himself.

The retired midfielder is viewed as one of the Red Devils' biggest let-downs of the Premier League era even though he won six major honours with the club. He arrived at Old Trafford in a £26million transfer from Porto in 2007 and would go on to make 181 appearances for United, scoring nine times.

The presiding sense among fans is that Anderson never lived up to his price tag or the potential he showed in Portugal. His role gradually diminished until he returned to his native Brazil to join Internacional in early 2015 having fallen out of favour under David Moyes and his managerial replacement, Louis van Gaal.

Despite his underwhelming time at United, Anderson regularly amazed his teammates during training and left a lasting impression on Foster, who insists his old colleague could have gone all the way to the top. "He could have been the best player in the world at one point, I promise you he could have," the ex-England international told the UTD Podcast of Anderson. "Everybody would say that he could have been the best in the world at one point.

"But he just didn't care, he didn't care about anything. Honestly, he didn't care about anything [laughs]. But you put him on a pitch and he was like that. Carlos Tevez was the same sort of thing. Put him on the pitch and oh my god. There has got to be something in being South American, there's got to be something in that."

Although his time with United is viewed in a largely gloomy light, Anderson played an important role in their 2008 Champions League triumph during his first season with the club. He also won four league titles but scored just five times in the top flight. Foster's claim that Anderson's motivation was lacking echoes comments made by former Red Devils defender Rafael, who opened up on his compatriot's obsession with McDonald's in his autobiography, co-written with brother Fabio.

He wrote: "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. In some ways that was a quality. It was what made him so popular and one of the most popular players at the club. But he would just eat whatever was put in front of him."