Man City's Van Dijk precedent shows why £120m Anderson bid rejection may not end pursuit

Manchester City’s pursuit of Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson has hit a significant obstacle, with the club’s second bid — worth a total of £120m, including £106m upfront — rejected by Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, who is demanding a larger guaranteed fee before any deal is agreed.

The rejection has unsettled some City supporters, who fear the asking price has climbed beyond what the club can justify, particularly in the post-Pep Guardiola era. But inside City’s recruitment operation, the situation is not without precedent — and that precedent offers a telling insight into how the club may respond.

In the summer of 2017, City were locked in competition with Liverpool for Southampton centre-back Virgil van Dijk. The Saints had set a firm asking price of £75m and refused to negotiate. As captured in City’s Amazon Prime documentary series All or Nothing, chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak discussed the impasse with then sporting director Txiki Begiristain. “Come on, you cannot be serious,” Al Mubarak said. “Ultimately, if it makes sense for us, we will do it. If it doesn’t make sense, we are perfectly comfortable in walking away. To do that, there’s only a few clubs in the world that can do that.”

City ultimately walked away, allowing Liverpool to sign Van Dijk while they redirected funds toward Aymeric Laporte in a £57m deal. In hindsight, Van Dijk proved the more transformative signing — but the episode illustrated that City’s hierarchy is willing to set a ceiling and stick to it, regardless of how attractive the target may be.

The parallels with Anderson are clear. Like Van Dijk, the 22-year-old has attracted a non-negotiable stance from his club, with Forest insisting on a higher upfront payment rather than a structure weighted toward add-ons — a reasonable position for a club that cannot bank contingent income.

Despite the stalled negotiations, sources close to City’s recruitment team are said to retain confidence that a deal can be completed. The appointment of new head coach Enzo Maresca, whose arrival from Chelsea is understood to be close to finalised, is also expected to add momentum to the club’s summer business.

Whether City ultimately match Forest’s demands, restructure their offer, or exercise the same discipline they showed over Van Dijk remains to be seen. What the 2017 episode confirms is that the club has both the resolve and the financial flexibility to make that call on their own terms.