Newcastle United are finalising a move for Nottingham Forest star Anthony Elanga and the Sweden international has the potential to 'keep developing'
Tino Livramento and Anthony Elanga will soon be linking up together for Newcastle United down the right
Tino Livramento and Anthony Elanga will soon be linking up together for Newcastle United down the right
Anthony Elanga will want to get 'even better' at Newcastle United and the Magpies will give the forward the 'platform' to do so.
That is the view of former Manchester United academy coach Neil Wood, who worked closely with Elanga, after the Sweden international touched down on Tyneside.
Elanga jetted in from Portugal on Tuesday evening to finalise his £55m move from Nottingham Forest and undergo his medical.
Wood has backed Elanga to be a big hit with supporters once the deal is completed - and there is clearly a lot more to come from the 23-year-old, who 'sets himself targets year after year'.
"He's one of the fastest players in the league," Wood told ChronicleLive. "But I know he will want to be developing.
"He's a strong character. Even from a young age he was really driven. He will want to get even better and Newcastle will give him the platform to do that."
Elanga will certainly be eager to hit the ground running. It can take signings time to adjust to Eddie Howe's intense demands, and learn Newcastle's patterns of play, but Elanga has had the benefit of already making 113 appearances in the Premier League.
Elanga has also previously sampled life in the Champions League with Manchester United, but the forward tellingly felt like he had to move on and join Nottingham Forest a couple of years ago in order to 'find ways to learn and improve' in his own words.
"He probably deserved a bit more time," Wood reflected. "He made his debut and he scored quite early on at Wolves away with a great header.
"Anthony is the type of character who was going to make sure that he stayed there when he got his chance. He did that, was training really well and maybe should have got a few more opportunities. If he did get some more, I think he would have stayed around a lot longer."
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