Anderson's £120m price tag dismissed by rivals as Man City push to seal transfer

Manchester City are pushing to sign Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson but have yet to agree a fee, with Forest demanding a British record transfer that is expected to exceed £120m.

City acknowledge they will need to negotiate the most favourable structure possible, yet there remains a broad expectation that Anderson will ultimately get the move both he and the club want. With the World Cup currently ongoing, there is no immediate pressure to finalise a deal, and City would likely want new sporting director Hugo Viana’s first major signing to follow the appointment of head coach Enzo Maresca.

While City haggle over the price, rivals have already stepped back. Manchester United, who had held an interest in Anderson for months, are understood to have concluded that a total package above £120m is beyond what their recruitment staff are willing to sanction, with no appetite to enter a bidding war. Separately, unnamed Premier League clubs have reportedly expressed concern that a deal at that level would inflate the broader transfer market.

Both positions have drawn scrutiny. United’s stance looks difficult to reconcile given they are simultaneously pursuing West Ham’s Mateus Fernandes at a reported £80m — a fee that, depending on how each player performs, may ultimately represent worse value. The argument that Anderson’s price is outrageous also sits uneasily alongside recent precedent: Arsenal paid £105m for Declan Rice three years ago in a comparable move that has proven an outstanding piece of business, while Liverpool spent £116m on a Bayer Leverkusen midfielder last summer.

The wider inflation concern is equally hard to sustain. Transfer fees are not set in a vacuum, and Anderson’s market value reflects what he actually produced last season — by most measures, one of the standout midfield performances in the Premier League. If the fee is steep, the argument goes, it is because the player earned it.

City’s task now is to find a structure that satisfies Forest’s valuation while keeping the overall outlay manageable. Until that is resolved, Anderson remains one of the summer’s most closely watched deals.