Manchester United‘s midfield trio of Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher and Anderson all battled through the opening leg of the club’s Champions League semi-final win over Arsenal six days ago but were rested for the clash with Middlesbrough last weekend. They will presumably start again on Tuesday evening, when United visit Ashburton Grove.

Regarding the tie, Ferguson singled out Anderson for specific praise and outlined the sort of role that he envisages the player fulfilling in future years.

“The midfield worked so hard against Arsenal in the first leg, we decided to rest the three of them,” Ferguson told the club’s official website. “We put Anderson on the bench because he’s not had as much football as Michael and Darren. But they’ve had a rest and they’ll be fresh for Tuesday if I decide to play them all.”

On whose game he believes Anderson would be wise to learn off in order to grow in his most natural position, Ferguson said, “I think he is going to replace Paul Scholes, that’s my opinion. I think he’s an outstanding talent; he’s got fantastic speed and strength.

“He’s still only 21. In the second half [against Arsenal], he was starting to be too positive, so we brought Giggs into midfield to give us more experience.”

Despite featuring in 72 games for Sir Alex Ferguson, Anderson is yet to make the net bulge. The manager claims he is not perturbed by such a statistic.

“We’re all lighting candles for that!” he smiled