Utd won’t get tough with Anderson

Manchester United have opted not to bring Anderson back from Olympic duty with Brazil.

United were effectively given the green light to request Anderson’s presence at Old Trafford following a verdict reached in Swizterland by the Court of Arbitration for Sport saying FIFA had no right to demand players appear in Beijing at the expense of their clubs.

However, it was always unlikely the Red Devils would ask Anderson to return, despite their current injury problems.

Alex Ferguson is acutely aware of the pride Brazilians take in representing their country and any short term gain in having Anderson around may be offset in the future through a sheer lack of goodwill.

Although the judgement itself, reached by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, concerned only Lionel Messi of Barcelona, plus Schalke’s Brazilian defender Rafinha and fellow countryman Diego from Werder Bremen, it covers all players.

Half the Premier League have lost men to the Olympics, a tournament for Under-23s supplemented by three over-age players, with Liverpool – who are facing a midfield problem ahead of next week’s Champions League qualifier with Standard Liege – affected the most.

With three players in China, Rafael Benitez’s squad were already stretched before Steven Gerrard suffered a thigh injury against Valerenga last night.

Without Gerrard and knowing Javier Mascherano and Lucas Leiva are at the Olympics along with Ryan Babel, Benitez could be forced to play Xabi Alonso, which would cup-tie the Spaniard and make him less attractive to potential purchasers such as Juventus.

No matter what the short-term consequences are, the prospect of an end to Olympic football, a significant event considering a Great Britain team is due to compete in 2012 at the London Games, has been played down by English football chiefs.

The Premier League have declined to comment on the ruling but with FIFA’s strategic committee currently going through a review of the much-maligned fixture calendar, the feeling is Olympic competition could be preserved at the expense of other friendly dates.