Manchester City have spent more than they have ever spent on a single player, while also paying the going rate for a top midfielder.
Elliot Anderson is on his way to City
Elliot Anderson is on his way to City
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After five years, Jack Grealish finally loses his price tag. He will always be the first £100m English player after his 2021 transfer to Manchester City but the Blues have now paid £16m more to sign Elliot Anderson.
The fact that the increase is so small in five years, or that it is only £11m more than what Arsenal paid for Declan Rice in 2023 or the same as Liverpool paid for Florian Wirtz in 2025, should kill any talk that it is crazy money that City are spending. Anderson has to live up to his billing, but based on what he has shown so far in his career and the market over the last five years, it is basically what you have to pay; Forest wanted significantly more, but respected Anderson's wish to move.
Nevertheless, such a spend on one player is not something City are used to doing. While the Forest midfielder ticks the boxes of the profile of player they look to bring in, the fee is not and it is hard to argue that the one exception in recent years, Grealish, proved to be good value.
However, it is undoubtedly a signing that was needed. The fanbase were crying out for a marquee name in midfield both because captain fantastic Bernardo Silva has departed and Rodri's future - both his contract situation and his playing ceiling - remains unknown.
At just 23 and already one of the best midfielders in the world, ready to improve further under a coach in Enzo Maresca who players love, Anderson looks like one of the best moves City could have made in the circumstances. And while Hugo Viana has still spent the summer haggling to bring the price down, there have been plenty of occasions in City's past where they have baulked at spending that kind of money.
City have known for a while that they have to get recruitment right in midfield this summer to set up the Maresca era. The team with the best midfield usually wins the league, and City's had too many question marks over it.
That is still the case, but signing Anderson is a big piece of the puzzle in the sense that he can come straight in and improve the starting XI and play every week. More work is still required and at least one more midfielder may come in, yet this is a big statement that will please the fanbase.
The news will not have gone unnoticed in North London either. Setting aside the 115 truthers who will gnash their teeth over City spending more money, if the Blues want to best Arsenal next season they need a better squad; it was after City pipped the Gunners to the league in 2023 that Mikel Arteta went out and splurged on Rice.
Having not won the league in two years, or challenged seriously for the Champions League in three, City need to be seen to be making steps to change that. Just as they went out and spent on players before the Club World Cup after their disappointing 2024/25 campaign, this signing shows that they are still looking to win everything they can, even as they move on from the age of Pep Guardiola.
As Arsenal and then City found out in recent years, intent is not always enough to take that final step. But if you get enough of your big calls right for long enough, that brings the winning environment that City have shown they are determined to keep.