Newcastle United reluctantly sold Elliot Anderson for a paltry £15million in July 2024.
Manchester City have nudged ahead in the race to sign former Newcastle United midfielder Elliot Anderson.
Toon chiefs reluctantly sold Anderson to Nottingham Forest for de facto £15million to avoid a potential points deduction in July 2024. Given his ensuing meteoric rise, this has proven to be a bitter pill for supporters to swallow.
Anderson - who will likely start for England at the World Cup this summer - has developed into one of the Premier League's standout midfielders. He added salt into Newcastle’s wounds by scoring a late equaliser at the City Ground earlier this month.
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Man City leading race
Toon fans must now watch on as a bidding war commences for their academy product. Man City and Manchester United are understood to have both expressed interest in the 23-year-old.
However, City are thought to have nudged ahead due to his hefty price tag. Forest will demand above £100million for Anderson and the eventual deal could eclipse the record fee paid to sign a British player.
As it stands, Declan Rice’s move to Arsenal in 2023 - worth £105million - holds the honour. The duo are set to be Thomas Tuchel’s first-choice pairing as England aim to clinch the World Cup.
Nottingham Forest stance
Vitor Pereira told reporters at the back end of the season that the Tricky Trees should aim to keep their best players. He said: "I believe if we want to compete for different goals, we need to keep the best players.
"If not, if you change every season, it is difficult to be consistent and difficult to build something stronger. We cannot control the market, of course, but I think we are aligned. What I think and what the club thinks is to try to keep most of them and to try to control the market."
Eddie Howe ‘regretted’ Elliot Anderson transfer
Eddie Howe has repeatedly discussed his regret at being forced to sell Anderson two years ago. He said: “It was something we regretted when we were doing it, and we knew that that would be a very, very painful transfer, one that we had to do, we had no choice.
“But it was probably the most reluctant transfer I'll ever do because you knew the quality, we knew the quality of the player, we'd seen him close up for a number of years training with us. He was beginning to break into the team at the back end of that season.
“He was being really effective in a number of different positions. It really hurts to see him do that against us today. He's going to go and have a fantastic career wherever he goes, wherever his career takes him. He's a great lad as well, so it's painful for us to take, but he's an outstanding player.”
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