Elliot Anderson from £35m bargain to £100m Man City target

Manchester City have their heart set on signing Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson this summer, ready to spend in the region of £100 million to bring one of the Premier League’s most impressive performers of the past season to the Etihad and fill the void left by Bernardo Silva’s departure.

The story of how Anderson arrived at this moment is one of the most remarkable in English football this year. Newcastle United sold him to Forest for £35 million primarily to comply with Financial Fair Play regulations, with goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos moving in the opposite direction. Nottingham Forest supporters barely knew who he was. Newcastle fans knew precisely what they had lost. Manchester City have been watching since before Bernardo Silva’s future was even confirmed, and a transfer war has broken out between City and Manchester United, one the Blues are confident of winning.

How Elliot Anderson became one of the Premier League’s best midfielders

Nottingham Post’s Forest correspondent Sarah Clapson has followed Anderson’s development more closely than anyone. “When he came, not a great deal was known about him among Forest fans,” she told MEN Sport. “Anderson was viewed as a bright talent by Newcastle and I think it has been clear since that they very much did not want to let him go. He was kind of an unknown really. He was very much an understated signing.”

The picture changed quickly. “You could see that Forest had signed a really good player when he came in,” Clapson continued. “He had quality and you could see he was a really good prospect. The past season is where he has come on hugely. He has established himself with England, as well as becoming a mainstay in the Forest team.”

Anderson made 50 appearances for Forest across a turbulent 2025/26 season and became pivotal in the club’s battle for survival. His performances earned him a call-up to Thomas Tuchel’s England World Cup squad, making him the latest young English midfielder to force his way onto the global stage through outstanding domestic form. At £35 million, Forest had secured one of the bargains of recent years.

The personal tragedy that defined Elliot Anderson’s season

Beyond the football, Anderson endured a season of extraordinary personal difficulty. In April, his mother Helen died following an illness. He returned to the pitch and scored in a 5-0 win over Sunderland. Two days after his mother’s funeral, he scored again to secure a crucial point against Newcastle. His manager Vitor Pereira said Anderson had wanted to honour his mother with a goal.

Clapson believes those moments revealed everything about the player’s character. “He has had a lot of personal things to deal with as well with his mum. It shows his strength of mentality and it is not just what he is like as a player, it is what he is like as a person in the dressing room and the standards that he sets.”

Anderson also navigated extraordinary managerial upheaval throughout the campaign. Forest began the season under Nuno Espirito Santo before he was replaced by Ange Postecoglou in September. Postecoglou lasted one month before Sean Dyche took charge. Dyche was dismissed in February and Vitor Pereira saw out the remainder of the season. Four managers in one campaign. Anderson just kept going through all of it.

Why Forest are valuing Elliot Anderson at £100m and why City think he is worth it

Forest are using Declan Rice’s £100 million move from West Ham to Arsenal as their benchmark for Anderson’s valuation. “I think £100m is probably the baseline and then Forest know, if he has a good World Cup with England, his value is only going to increase,” Clapson explained. “Forest hold all the cards at the minute in terms of how things stand. He is under contract, they aren’t under pressure to sell. They can kind of sit back and if he has a good World Cup, then his value is going to go up even more and they can probably negotiate an even better deal.”

The question of whether Anderson can replace Bernardo Silva at City is one Clapson answers with conviction. “He is more than capable of stepping into that position and probably relishing it. When you watch him, one of the things that is really noticeable about him is that he is constantly demanding the ball. Anderson is always looking to progress the play. He is always looking to find a teammate to get the team on the front foot. He always wants to be in the thick of things.”

Anderson himself is described as quiet and unassuming in person, a player who does not give a great deal away when speaking to the media. But his desire to win and the standards he sets in a dressing room have made a significant impression on everyone who has worked with him at Forest. When City set their minds on a player, they very rarely miss out. Whatever happens next for Anderson is unlikely to happen in Nottingham.