Ferguson plays patience with Brazil ace

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has promised there is much more to come from summer signing Anderson.

The 19-year-old Brazil midfielder was handed a Premier League debut for the club in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Sunderland, but was replaced at half-time by Louis Saha who went on to score the vital goal.

However, Ferguson is confident his capture from Porto will come good as he makes his way at Old Trafford.

He told the club’s official website, www.manutd.com: “He will take time. He’s 19 years of age and is a player with great skill. I’m sure he will be okay.

“I thought he found it difficult against Sunderland because of the speed of the game and the way they set their stall out made it difficult for us.

“Also, if you look at the four that played – Anderson, (Chris) Eagles, (Carlos) Tevez and Nani – they have never played with each other.

“But we were pleased to get 45 minutes behind Anderson. Hopefully, the two weeks before the Everton game will give him a chance to improve.”

Anderson, who was part of the Brazil squad for this summer’s Copa America campaign, suffered a hamstring injury in the pre-season fixture at Doncaster on August 3.

That meant he had to wait to make his senior debut, but he was included in the reserves for Tuesday night’s 3-1 defeat by Manchester City having not made his country’s squad for the friendlies against USA and Mexico, and played for more than an hour.