· 4 September 2025, 19:30
Former Newcastle United academy star Elliot Anderson has been called up to the latest England squad by Thomas Tuchel after impressing on a regular basis for Nottingham Forest.
Anderson was sold to Forest last summer as part of a PSR-fuelled quasi-swap deal that saw Anderson head to Nottingham for £35 million and Odysseas Vlachodimos come to Tyneside for £20 million.
Newcastle didn't want to sell Anderson but had to comply with PSR. Similarly, they had zero interest in Odysseas Vlachodimos and certainly would have preferred not to have spent £20 million on the Greek goalkeeper, but it was a necessary evil.
Now Anderson is on the verge of making his senior England debut after helping the Under-21s to lift the European Championship for the second tournament in a row this summer.
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Speaking to the media ahead of England's World Cup Qualifier with Andorra on Saturday, Anderson spoke about having to leave Newcastle and how, if he'd stayed at his boyhood club, he'd likely not be where he is now.
“It was sort of a tough move at the time, but I think ultimately, I probably wouldn’t be sat here now if I didn’t make the move.
“So, I think sometimes you’ve got to sort of step out of your comfort zone and believe in yourself, which is sort of what I’ve done.
“I believed I was ready to go and play in the Premier League every week. So yeah, as I say, I don’t think I would be in this position now if I didn’t do it.”
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To be fair, Anderson probably has a point. For all he was adored by the fans, Eddie Howe had Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton ahead of him in the pecking order, and it would take a special kind of player to break into that trio.
Anderson simply wouldn't have been given the same opportunities at Newcastle as he's found at Forest and while it's never great to lose one of our own, it's a move that has certainly paid off for the player.
There's a feeling that Anderson's Newcastle story isn't over yet, though. He could always return in the future.