Forgotten Man Utd wonderkid is no longer playing football, his horrific injury left Sir Alex Ferguson 'numb'

It's been 15 years since Rodrigo Possebon suffered an injury so bad that Sir Alex Ferguson and his Manchester United players felt "numb" afterwards.

Back in September 2008, the highly-rated Brazilian midfielder, who had arrived from Brazilian side Internacional earlier that year, was handed his first start for United in their League Cup clash against Middlesbrough.

Possebon impressed for large spells alongside Anderson and Ryan Giggs in a midfield three but in the 66th minute, he was caught by Boro captain Emanuel Pogatetz.

Old Trafford soon fell silent. After planting his studs into Possebon's leg, Pogatetz was sent off for the rash challenge but the damage was already done.

Possebon was stretchered off with an oxygen mask to his face and his career was plunged into doubt.

Sir Alex Ferguson, who looked shaken in his post-match interview, said: "It looked a really bad one. For the kid to make his first-team debut and get an injury like that was pretty horrendous.

"For 10 minutes everyone was numb about it. I have seen a video of it and you don't want to see that again. We just hope it is not really, really serious, but it looks bad."

Recalling that incident against Middlesbrough in an interview with Yahoo in 2015, Possebon said Ferguson was "furious" with the tackle. "Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate apologised," he added.

Despite fears that he'd broken his leg, Possebon had an extremely lucky escape. He was back playing within a month for United's reserves but ultimately, his career never really recovered after that day in 2008.

He made eight appearances in total for United before joining Santos in 2010, and would later play for a host of lower league Brazilian clubs, including Criciúma, Mirassol and Juventude.

Following his last spell on the pitch – a short stint at Vietnamense side Ho Chi Minh City FC – Possebon recently started a role as director of youth football at Brazilian side Barra FC.

He previously worked as a football executive and technical director at Ferroviária for four years.

Sebastian Bacher, who is the general director at Barra FC, praised Possebon on his arrival. “We carried out a very detailed search to be as assertive as possible when hiring the director of youth football," he said.

"A young professional who is hungry to take on an ambitious and still growing project, he brings knowledge and sporting experience to make us take a step forward in the search for excellence.

"We found all these characteristics in Rodrigo Possebon and we are very happy with the arrangement and eager to see the fruits of this work."

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