25 Jun 2026 22:37:42
Manchester City have agreed a fee with Nottingham Forest worth up to £130m to sign Elliot Anderson.
The England midfielder is now set to undergo a medical ahead of completing his move to the Etihad Stadium.
26 Jun 2026 02:07:44
Kalvin Phillips 2.0.
26 Jun 2026 03:11:17
JakeDenney2 - Anderson is an outstanding midfielder - genuinely one of the best midfielders in the league - he is nothing like Kalvin Phillips.
However, 130m is a remarkable amount of money for someone who is simply not very dangerous. At least City have paid through the nose for him rather than somehow scurrying away having paid 43m or something silly.
26 Jun 2026 03:57:21
That's a team that already knows it's only getting a fine for their "alleged" wrongdoings!
26 Jun 2026 05:24:21
Problem is it sets the tone. Wharton was/is a £50m-£60m player, now £100m.
26 Jun 2026 06:15:42
Match - If anyone is dumb enough to pay 100m for Wharton, have at it. It's no good equating Wharton with Anderson - they are nothing alike except for age and nationality, but I get your point.
England should be absolutely walking away with this World Cup (Rice, Anderson and Bellingham in midfield?! Insane quality), but they won't.
26 Jun 2026 07:47:36
Very good player, would love him at Liverpool, but that is a lot to pay for a cm.
26 Jun 2026 07:55:32
Personally, don't think England will win anything without any wingers and trying to force Bellingham into the team as a 10.
26 Jun 2026 08:05:21
Rice, Bellingham and Anderson = insane quality. Lol. It's amazing what effect good PR has on people.
26 Jun 2026 08:05:26
Calling Elliot Anderson an outstanding player is madness. He is nothing special at all, but he can run a bit. Imagine if he was playing with all the top midfielders like Gerrard, Alonso, etc., he couldn't lace their boots.
26 Jun 2026 08:29:17
I wonder what they are saying about this at Newcastle? They sold him for £35m 2 years ago so that they could keep Gordon for a bit longer.
26 Jun 2026 08:49:16
The Anderson fee will be forgotten by mid season. The guy's intercept rate was leagues ahead of everyone else. He will be an important player for them for years to come.
26 Jun 2026 09:24:37
We paid a similar amount for Wirtz, and he looks like a Conference League player. Anderson will be a hit at City. He's also exactly the type of player we need.
He's out of Slot's system now and playing with world class players, and he's still the only one in that German team who looks anything but 'generational.' In fact he's been largely a ghost in all the games.
26 Jun 2026 09:39:33
Anderson would be in the conversation for our midfield, in my opinion. Tonali would still be my first choice. All opinion, no right or wrong.
26 Jun 2026 09:38:26
@bob You mean the guy with the quick feet who created their only goal last night?
I know you are just a troll but surely even you must be getting tired of your posts by now?
26 Jun 2026 09:48:19
Danny Drinkwater 2.0. Good player in an average team (and I include England in that), but not top level for me.
Does the ugly stuff well, but is a limited footballer. Looks lost when the team has lots of possession, and you'd expect City to have lots of possession. Excels in a counter attacking setup because he's got legs and doesn't mind a tackle.
26 Jun 2026 10:09:54
Wharton is far more special on the ball than Anderson. It's just a pity he's vulnerable to big spaces off the ball. Anderson is definitely the better all rounder and athlete (which is more important now than before). But Wharton is more talented for me.
26 Jun 2026 10:33:19
Bob is correct to an extent. Wirtz has done very little to justify his fee. So far. Hopefully under Iraola it will all change. I'm expecting it to.
26 Jun 2026 10:49:36
Sorry, but this is the real world, and we will not be signing 6-7 players this window unless big sales are made. It just doesn't happen.
Joe
VVD
Leoni
Jacquet
These will be the 4 cbs unless one leaves.
The kids will get cups and subs appearances.
RB we have two senior RBs on the books already and 2 senior LBs also. If we buy one for either, then one of the others will be sold. It's a business at the end of the day.
26 Jun 2026 11:19:19
Unless Iraola decides to play Frimpong further forward, BeKind. Which, let's be honest, is his position. He's no right back.
26 Jun 2026 11:43:00
@Bob, Wirtz has been one of their best players. He's constantly involved. Germany lost the match as soon as they took him off. Having said that, he needs to improve his decision making when deciding to make these quick passes.
He often lost or gave the ball away to the opposition under Slot, and has been doing the same for Germany as well.
As for Anderson, I wish we would have signed him. We need some English players in that team, let alone the midfield.
26 Jun 2026 11:50:31
Well, City have gone and set the precedent for this summer's market.
We may as forget signing anyone from the Premier League now unless they are a contract opportunity. Even then Spurs paid over £50m for Van Hecke.
Crack on, Richard.
26 Jun 2026 12:24:53
"What about Gerrard and Alonso" - *a big long yawn*.
Well done on illustrating your point with two all-time great players.
26 Jun 2026 13:14:22
Ok use Pedri and some midfielders at PSG if it makes you feel better. Anderson is nothing special and will never ever be an outstanding or great footballer. So £130m is an absolute joke. Declan Rice must be worth £200m and he's not great either.
26 Jun 2026 13:52:55
There is a lot of English tax in there. Kudos to Forest. They saw the potential for a large profit margin when they signed him.
I imagine that influences the market. Any club interested in Morgan Rogers, for example, would expect to pay a similar fee.
26 Jun 2026 14:10:12
Declan Rice was easily one of, if not the best, midfielder in the league last season, imo. I have to disagree with you when you say he isn't great.
Anderson is a good player, but definitely not worth 100m. In fact, I stand by what I said earlier too and say that no player in the world, regardless of how good they are, is worth that kind of money.
But the market is crazy and has been crazy for a while now. 50m is the new going rate for average players nowadays.
26 Jun 2026 14:15:14
Kudos to Forest. Is he to replace Anderson?
26 Jun 2026 15:51:05
I would say Anderson is more deserving of his £100m+ fee than Diomande, who we are trying to get...
I would always prefer to buy Premier League proven players.
He's very tidy and great at intercepting attacks. Reminds me of how Fernandinho used to play for City in that he should allow them to play high and stop teams getting at them with any counter attack.
26 Jun 2026 17:38:22
Wirtz 31 PL games, 5 goals, 3 assists.
No excuses whatsoever, he's had a bedding in season now, the time has come for Wirtz to put his cards on the table?
Thank God we never got Nagelsmann. Couldn't even beat Ecuador with the finest Germany has to offer. Hoeness, another German pudding.
Bundesliga miles behind the Premier League.
Frimpong also came from there, he was a let down also when fit. One hopes Alonso has a poor season also, having come from Germany to manage RM and got the Welly. Why risk signing Diamonde when Hugo is back early 2027. Rayan 15 PL games, 5 goals, 2 assists, circa the same figures as Wirtz, Rayan half the games played.
26 Jun 2026 19:15:46
Posters have no concept of what great means anymore. Better than average and one good season doesn't mean great. There wasn't one great player in the PL this year.
26 Jun 2026 19:45:48
Wirtz's numbers are similar to Gordon, 6 and 4 assists.
26 Jun 2026 20:11:02
Declan Rice is the best midfielder currently, and Arsenal have had their 100m back already from him.... Anderson is not a Declan Rice currently. And Declan Rice is well behind Gerrard level also.
Players are getting worse generally, but the prices are getting bigger.
We need to seriously be looking further afield. South Americans have more desire... But then want a move to Real Madrid. Etc.
Got to be better than Anderson for a lot cheaper elsewhere.
27 Jun 2026 00:30:45
Anybody remember Trevor Francis? The shock when he was transferred to Birmingham for £1m - the first million £ transfer
Everybody saying the game had gone mad.
I was at the Everton v Birmingham match for Francis's debut and it was a sell out at Goodison and the reason I went was to watch him play. These days, it's about streaming and the increased r3venue for the clubs.
If Wirtz, Isak, Diomande are all playing for a winning team, playing entertaining football, the money laid out for them and future £100m plus will have been a good (perhaps necessary) investment.
Give it another 10 years and there will be an outcry about the first £500m player being a waste of money.
27 Jun 2026 10:01:22
WDW, Trevor Francis was transferred from Birmingham to Notts Forest.
I used to have one of his tracksuits. I got it from a mush in Shepherd's Bush.
27 Jun 2026 22:30:31
I don't see the big fuss with Anderson personally. He's a good player but not world class.
My personal view is the game is shifting more into the realm of athleticism and away from technique and skill. The player who runs 15km and keeps his position is more likely to play in favour of the maverick dribbler who might not run much but produces wild magic.
Everyone seems to want and value stamina and willingness to run over all else. Personally I think you need two of those guys per starting 11 - one in central midfield and a right or left back. The rest should be technically gifted players who can keep and distribute the ball quickly.
In today's market Mascherano would be worth 300m and Zidane would get derided for lack of running and defending. Eventually we will reach the point where every player is a runner and teams have one skill-based player who comes off the bench for the last 5 minutes.
Even in Brazil this is the norm now. During a (fairly) recent conversation with Ronaldinho, I asked him why he thinks Brazil struggle now, and he said, "Nobody enjoys playing anymore. For everyone now it's a job with a goal. Whatever I did on the pitch was because I enjoyed it. I don't think there is many like this now."
I don't think he's too wrong.
28 Jun 2026 05:51:34
Sorry Rigsby, you are correct, of course, I got the clubs the wrong way round. Old age. ?