Manchester City were reminded at Liverpool of how things could have been even more difficult for them
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 11: Elliot Anderson of Manchester City runs with the ball under pressure from Florian Wirtz of Liverpool during the Premier League 2026/27 match between Liverpool FC and Manchester City at Anfield on October 11, 2026 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 11: Elliot Anderson of Manchester City runs with the ball under pressure from Florian Wirtz of Liverpool during the Premier League 2026/27 match between Liverpool FC and Manchester City at Anfield on October 11, 2026 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
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Elliot Anderson
Go back around 18 months and it felt like a few Manchester City fans were ready to liquidate the club themselves without the need for an independent commission. Pep Guardiola's side had just endured a miserable season and now their top target was going off to join Premier League champions Liverpool instead.
Was this the end of City's dominant period? Would Florian Wirtz now conduct a Liverpool team that could dominate the division under Arne Slot for the next decade? That may seem like small fry now against the weight of over 100 Premier League rule breaches that have been proven, but at the time it was quite a headloss.
City sporting director Hugo Viana pivoted and, as the Amazon documentary shows, came to the realisation that Rayan Cherki could be a steal. He arrived from Lyon for just £26m and has 22 goals and assists from 39 Premier League appearances compared to Wirtz's nine in the same timeframe.
Cherki wasn't the best in the final third for most of the game at Anfield, but he creates so many opportunities that it always feels like he has a chance of scoring or producing in every game and he duly popped up with a delightful finish. He has had an excellent start to his second season at the club.
Outshining him at Anfield was Elliot Anderson, who - among many other impressive abilities - won eight fouls in the game; that's five more than any other player and the most that any player on record has ever won at Anfield. After a wobbly start to the game for City, Anderson was essential to settling the visitors down and giving them control of the game.
And if Wirtz can be compared to Cherki positionally, Anderson happens to have cost the same as the Liverpool man did 12 months ago. Watching the two run for a 50-50, and Anderson winning the ball with such crunching force that Wirtz was left flattened on the pitch, was an easy marker for how the same amount of money can get a club two very different players.
It is still wild that Anderson's name was used as a sign of how silly the transfer window has become, when he was exactly the same price as Wirtz and is more effective than him already - as he was last season at Forest. Having been man-of-the-match for City's 10 men at Old Trafford, Anderson again stood tall for his new team to help them win a big game.
All of that may be in vain if the appeal is dismissed and City get an enormous sanction. For now though, the Blues are in a better place than they could have been for the decisions they made in the transfer market after missing out on Wirtz.
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