Man City lead race for Elliot Anderson as £100m deadline looms before World Cup

Manchester City have emerged as the leading candidates to sign Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson, with both City and Manchester United facing a narrow window to conclude a deal before the 23-year-old joins England’s World Cup squad in North America.

Anderson has been named in Thomas Tuchel’s 26-man England squad for the tournament, and the Three Lions are set to depart for America on Monday, 1 June. That deadline effectively compresses any transfer negotiation into a matter of days, with the likelihood of a resolution before the tournament now considered remote.

City’s interest is driven by a series of midfield concerns. Club captain Bernardo Silva is leaving when his contract expires, while recent arrivals Nico Gonzalez and Tijjani Reijnders have not fully convinced. Rodri’s long-term future is also uncertain — the Spain international is out of contract in 2027 and has attracted interest from Real Madrid — and Mateo Kovacic enters the final year of his Etihad deal this summer.

United are also monitoring Anderson closely, but the club is wary of overpaying given competing transfer priorities and the need to overhaul a midfield that has already lost Casemiro. Manuel Ugarte could be sold after two underwhelming seasons at Old Trafford, but United’s reluctance to enter a bidding war leaves City better positioned.

City hold an existing relationship with Forest, having sold them James McAtee and Stefan Ortega in the past 12 months — a dynamic that could smooth negotiations. Forest, however, are expected to demand upwards of £100m for a player who has impressed consistently for club and country over the last 18 months.

Forest manager Vitor Pereira acknowledged after the final game of the season that retaining his best players is the priority, while accepting that Anderson’s departure is a realistic outcome given the level of interest and the club’s absence from European football next term.

“I believe if we want to compete for different goals, we need to keep the best players,” Pereira said. “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.”

With Anderson set to be a prominent figure in England’s midfield throughout the summer, the transfer saga is widely expected to extend well beyond the World Cup’s opening weeks.