· 4 July 2025, 21:00
**After over a year of chasing, Newcastle United finally look to be winning the race to sign Anthony Elanga from Nottingham Forest.**
A last-ditch £50 million offer was made on deadline day last summer by Newcastle for Elanga which was, obviously, unsuccessful.
And now, 12 months later, a £55 million bid has gone in by the Magpies which is expected to be accepted by Forest, if it hasn't already.
Personal terms aren't likely to be an issue, and Elanga, with his international teammates Alexander Isak and Emil Krafth already at Newcastle, as well as his good friend Will Osula, is likely to fit right in when he arrives.
Nottingham Forest wanted Jacob Murphy has part of a deal for Anthony Elanga in January
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Today, though, TalkSPORT journalist Alex Crook has revealed that Newcastle and Nottingham Forest were in talks over Anthony Elanga in January too, and the Tricky Trees wanted to include Jacob Murphy as part of the deal.
> “When Forest and Newcastle were talking about a potential deal for Elanga late in the winter window, my understanding is that Forest actually wanted to take \[Jacob\] Murphy in part exchange. Eddie Howe put a stop to that because he’s such a big fan of Murphy.”
It wouldn't have made any sense for Newcastle to include Murphy in the deal for Elanga, regardless of Eddie Howe's feelings on the matter.
Newcastle couldn't afford to let Jacob Murphy leave in January
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In January, Miguel Almiron was already destined to leave the club and ended up returning to Atlanta United in the MLS leaving only Murphy as an out-and-out right winger.
Signing Elanga is as much about strengthening the options down the right as it is finding a winger to take the side to the next level, so we'd still have been no further forward if we'd let another winger go just to bring one in.
Thankfully, Eddie Howe put the blockers on and Jacob Murphy continued to shine for Newcastle, continuing to forge a deadly strike partnership with Alexander Isak.
Given the times they've played together for Sweden, we expect it won't take long for Elanga to get up to speed on that front for Newcastle either.