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Toe Poke Daily: Former Man United star Anderson retires at 31

The Toe Poke Daily is here every day to bring you all the weirdest stories, quirkiest viral content and top trolling that the internet has to offer, all in one place.

Brazilian midfielder Anderson was tipped for great things when, at the age of 18, he signed for Manchester United from Porto in 2007 for a reported fee of €30m.

Anderson went on to win four Premier League titles, the Copa America and the 2008 Champions League  -- landing the prestigious Golden Boy award that same year -- but he struggled after leaving United in 2015 and, after initially heading back to Brazil, he joined Turkish second-tier side Adana Demirspor in July 2018.

However, Adana's chairman Murat Sancak has now confirmed that the 31-year-old has decided to hang up his boots.

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"Anderson spent the camp period very well, but was not involved in squad planning. Anderson got a job, he went to work and decided to quit football," Sancak told Radyospor. "Anderson reduced his contract which was €600,000 for this season to €200,000. Anderson will continue to work at our club. I think it will be especially effective in our foreign relations."

It looks like the former Golden Boy is now set to move into the backroom staff, but his early retirement got us thinking of other players who left the game too early.

Note: The cut off age is 32, while any player who made a comeback (George Best and Pele, we're looking at you) has been omitted.

Maddison's backpack

James Maddison has been impressing on the field with Leicester, enough to see him linked with a move to Manchester United, but now he's trying to impress off the pitch too.

Rocking up for Saturday's game against Tottenham, Maddison sported a lovely shiny backpack.

He'll fit right in at Old Trafford with style icons like Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard then.

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