Some news and transfer rumors never go away, which means there might be some truth in them. It’s long been known that Manchester United are very interested in James Rodriguez of Porto, but instead of paying a huge fee for him, which will likely be over €30 million, suggesting a trade of sending Anderson, a former player of the Dragons, in order to get the Colombian star.
Anderson, 25, began his European career with Porto in 2006, playing a couple of seasons with the team before being purchased by United for around the same amount Rodriguez is going to cost them if they try to purchase him without any sort of trade-deal going on. Anderson had a few nice moments during his stay at Old Trafford, but it’s safe to say that those labeling him as a wonderkid were wrong.
Anderson turned out to be a useful yet very inconsistent central midfielder, who during his leaner days (his weight tends to fluctuate) showed a lot of speed and vision with his bursts forward, but most of the time looked like a player who is content on doing the minimal effort possible in the middle of the pitch. It was enough for Alex Ferguson to keep him on the squad and somewhat of in the rotation, but nothing more.
Rodriguez is a very different player. A winger who can also play behind the strikers, the 21 year old has really made a name for himself during his third season with Porto. They might miss out on the league title for the first time since he’s arrived, but Rodriguez’ performances next to Jackson Martinez helped Porto maintain a top-class European attack after the departure of Falcao.
Rodriguez has scored nine goals in 18 matches this season, hurt a little bit by an injury that made him miss a few matches. He is often compared to Cristiano Ronaldo because of his ability to play all along the attacking line, while showing excellent dribbling skills while forgetting sometimes about his play-making roles and being selfish when necessary. He has scored 24 goals in 59 matches for Porto since arriving in 2010.