FROM Bryan Robson to Roy Keane, Manchester United have never been short of midfield legends.

And United manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes the current team have a midfielder ready made to follow in these big footsteps.

Step forward Anderson.

Fergie has backed the Brazilian to become United's next midfield legend as he prepares to unleash the hard-tackling, energetic midfielder and his fellow Old Trafford young guns against Queen's Park Rangers tomorrow in the League Cup's fourth round.

The Premier League champions, stung by Saturday's 2-1 league defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, face Championship outfit QPR with boss Ferguson ready to rest his established stars.

Promising youngsters Jonny Evans, Rodrigo Possebon, Darron Gibson and Danny Welbeck are all set to be handed the chance to shine.

But Ferguson admits that 20-year-old Anderson, a £19 million ($44.6mil) buy from Porto 18 months ago, is the player that he has the highest hopes for amongst his young crop when it comes to emulating the likes of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes.

Ferguson said: 'Anderson is a different type of player altogether to Roy Keane, but when you are looking for that central midfield player - we've got Scholes who is coming to the end of his career, Roy Keane has left us to try his hand at management - you say, 'who is going to function for Manchester United?'

'Then a 19-year-old lad comes in and you see his performance level. You know he is going to become a terrific player and life goes on. United move on, it's inevitable.

King

'Our style has changed over the last few years. We've got different types of players to 10 years ago, so you cannot replicate every team with identical players.

'When I first came here they used to say Bryan Robson was king and you cannot win a game without him. I began to believe it as well because we didn't operate as well without him.

'We had to change the mentality - change the mental toughness. They thought you could never find another Robson, but then Roy Keane came along and filled the breach marvellously.

'Then they thought you would never get another Keane, but then someone like Anderson steps through the door and the cycle just keeps going.'

AFP