**_LONDON_**: Manchester City have laid down an undeniable marker for the post-Pep Guardiola era, agreeing to a club-record £116m deal to sign Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson.
The 23-year-old England star is currently on international duty at the 2026 World Cup, where he is scheduled to undergo a medical in New York ahead of finalizing long-term personal terms.
With City ushering in a transition period following high-profile – including Guardiola himself and long-serving stalwarts like Bernardo Silva – the hierarchy club considered Anderson as their primary summer target. The guaranteed £116 million package contains no additional add-ons, comfortably eclipsing the £100 million City paid for Jack Grealish in 2021 to become the most expensive signing in the club’s history.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis originally drove a hard bargain, demanding a fee that would exceed the British record £125 million Liverpool paid for Alexander Isak. However, City’s improved third bid proved sufficient to close the gap in valuation, successfully fending off interest from cross-town rivals Manchester United.
Anderson’s meteoric rise over the last two seasons at the City Ground justified the staggering price tag. After moving from Newcastle United for £35 million, the versatile midfielder blossomed into one of Europe’s finest central talents, driving Forest to a seventh-place Premier League finish and a Europa League semi-final. His domestic brilliance quickly translated to the international stage, where he has earned 11 caps and become a fixture in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad, starting matches against Croatia and Ghana in the World Cup group stages.
Capable of operating as a deep-lying playmaker or a dynamic box-to-box presence, Anderson provides the precise tactical flexibility City require. With core components of the squad aging or moving on, the young midfielder represents a long-term investment capable of anchoring the engine room for the next decade.
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