Manchester City shatter British record with £130m move for Elliot Anderson

Manchester City have agreed a £130m deal to sign Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest, shattering the British transfer record and making the 23-year-old England midfielder their marquee signing of the summer window.

Forest had held firm during the early weeks of negotiations, determined to surpass the £125m that took Alexander Isak from Newcastle to Liverpool last summer. City saw an opening offer rejected before eventually meeting Forest’s valuation, according to The Telegraph. Anderson has been given permission to undergo a medical in New York on Friday, with the deal still subject to personal terms being agreed.

Anderson arrived at Forest in 2023 for £35m from Newcastle, the club where he came through the academy. The Tyneside club were reluctant to sell at the time, and the fee City are now paying represents a staggering profit for Forest in just two years. He made his England debut in September and has started both of England’s World Cup group-stage matches so far, lining up alongside Declan Rice against Croatia and Ghana, with a further start expected against Panama on Saturday.

City are operating in their first summer without Pep Guardiola, with Enzo Maresca expected to be confirmed as the new head coach at the Etihad. Anderson is viewed as a natural fit for the system Maresca intends to implement and will also contribute to the club’s homegrown player quota — a practical consideration given the squad’s current composition.

The signing also addresses a longer-term concern at the club. Rodri, now 30, is persistently linked with Real Madrid and could reassess his future when his contract expires. City have struggled to successfully integrate central midfielders in recent seasons — Kalvin Phillips, a highly regarded English player, moved to Manchester but found opportunities limited by Rodri’s dominance. With Bernardo Silva among those expected to depart, Anderson is being positioned as a central figure in the post-Guardiola rebuild.

Manager Thomas Tuchel has already indicated he will not stand in the way of players completing club moves during the World Cup, clearing the path for Anderson’s transfer to be finalised while the tournament is ongoing.