The future of Harry Maguire has been secured at Manchester United, although there's still plenty left to sort for the INEOS hierarchy at Old Trafford, ahead of another seismic summer for the club.
The major priority, undoubtedly, will be to decide on the next permanent manager in the dugout, with interim head coach Michael Carrick doing his own bid for the job no harm after leading his side to third in the Premier League table as things stand.
Settling on Carrick, or a potential successor, would likely aid United's pursuit of potential summer targets, although even so, that search is ramping up regardless, if the latest reports are to be believed.
Man Utd midfielders - 25/26
Player
Fernandes
Casemiro
Mainoo
Ugarte
Mount
J. Fletcher
T. Fletcher
The priority, as most in the game are aware, is the signing of at least one new midfielder ahead of next season, with work on that front set to be carried out this week by all accounts.
Manchester United readying fresh talks to sign £100m target
With an expanded World Cup on the horizon, it is even more imperative for the Red Devils to get their business done early, rather than risk a repeat of the usual end-of-window chaos that has plagued summers gone by.
Manchester United's Casemiro in action
There are no excuses either for a protracted summer saga, with the confirmation of Casemiro's exit at the end of the season making it clear where the club have to strengthen, amid reports that fellow South American, Manuel Ugarte, is also destined to depart when the campaign comes to a close.
Considering the lack of depth in that department, there is a sense that United required both a 'number six' and a 'number eight'. Well, why not secure someone who can do both?
According to the Roundtable, INEOS have decided that Nottingham Forest's Elliot Anderson is their 'top target', with work underway to try and beat rivals Manchester City to the Englishman's signature.
The report suggests that it is City who are ahead in the race as things stand, although United are set to engage in 'fresh talks' this week, via intermediaries.
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It is said that the Red Devils are continuing to explore a deal for the £100m-rated talent, albeit with the club hoping that there will be 'clarity' on the 23-year-old's future before he jets off to the United States with England.
Why Anderson could be like Keane & Scholes at Man Utd
It feels like an age since United truly had a settled midfield pairing at Old Trafford, with even Sir Alex Ferguson's great side of the 2006-2009 era having seen real rotation in that department, be it Carrick, Anderson, Darren Fletcher, Owen Hargreaves or Paul Scholes.
Not since the days of Scholes and the great Roy Keane has there been a truly dominant, established duo in the centre of the park, the pair - despite missing that night at Camp Nou - proving integral to United's treble success, and plenty more.
With the fair hair of Scholes, and the Forest link of Keane, it is easy to make the comparison between Anderson and those two greats, although there is more to the story than that.
roy-keane-man-utd
Indeed, in the view of talkSPORT's Max Scott, the young Geordie is "a bit of Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Zinedine Zidane all rolled into one", high praise indeed for a player who has had to rebuild himself somewhat after being sold on by Newcastle United in 2024.
That exit from St James' Park has come back to bite the Magpies since then, however, with Anderson - as Scott alluded to - possessing all the necessary traits to make him the perfect modern, or even old-school midfielder.
At a time when players, particularly those in the centre, are pigeon-holed by defined roles, the ex-Newcastle man can seemingly do it all, as this season has again illustrated.
Part of the reason why he has cemented a starting berth for himself alongside Declan Rice at international level is his work out of possession, boasting that Keane-esque bite to his game and physicality, having averaged four tackles and interceptions per game this season in the Premier League, alongside recovering the ball 8.4 times per game.
England squad Rice Kane
For comparison, his England colleague Rice, arguably the benchmark when it comes to top-flight midfielders, averages just 2.9 and 5.1 for those same two metrics, respectively.
Like Keane too, but perhaps more so akin to Scholes, Anderson boasts a real willingness to play the ball forward at every available opportunity, averaging 1.5 key passes per game, while losing possession 18 times on average as a sign of that willingness to create.
At still only 23, such comparisons may not be helpful in tempering expectation, but considering the size of the reported asking price, the cat is already out of the bag in that sense.
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