Manchester City have agreed a £116m deal with Nottingham Forest for Elliot Anderson, and the England midfielder is due to have a medical in the US within 24 hours. The fee is being described as a record for a British player, turning a long pursuit into one of the window’s biggest moves.
Elliot Anderson and Manchester City
The agreement sends Anderson toward Manchester City after two bids were already rejected earlier in the window. He preferred the move to the Etihad Stadium over signing for Manchester United, which gives City the player they kept pressing for after missing twice.
Anderson is on international duty at the World Cup, so the medical has to fit around that schedule. If it is completed within the next 24 hours, the transfer can move from agreement to final paperwork without delay.
Nottingham Forest lose a regular
Forest are giving up a player who spent two seasons at the City Ground after arriving from Newcastle for £35m. In Nottingham, he helped the club finish seven in the Premier League and reach the Europa League semi-finals, so this is not a depth move for them.
He also scored against his former club in his final Forest match last month. That ending ties the transfer back to the club that first sold him and now will not benefit from the move to City.
Transfer fee and replacement
The £116m figure sits above the £125m Liverpool paid last summer for Alexander Isak, but the records here are not just about size. It is also about structure: Manchester City had to keep pushing after two rejected bids, then Forest chose to cash in on a player whose value had risen sharply since the £35m move from Newcastle.
Forest have already held talks over a potential £45m move for Lucas Bergvall as Anderson’s replacement. That gives them an immediate list of work to do once the final steps on the transfer are completed, while City move ahead with a deal they could not land earlier in the window.
