Elliot Anderson should cost Man City £100m but this is why he is worth it

Even when Bernardo Silva's Manchester City future was unknown, the Blues were drawing up their plans to sign Elliot Anderson. After joining Nottingham Forest to help boyhood club Newcastle avoid Financial Fair Play (FFP) punishment, it soon became clear the Magpies had made a mistake.

Following a good debut season at the City Ground, the self-described 'miserable and boring' Anderson blossomed in the 2025/26 season. He made 50 appearances for Forest and became pivotal in the East Midlands club's battle for safety. His performances caught the eye of England head coach Thomas Tuchel and Anderson is now in line to make his first appearance at a major international tournament.

Back home, he has sparked a transfer war between City and Manchester United - a battle the Blues are confident of winning. After a season of highs and lows both on and off the pitch, Anderson is positioned to become the latest English player to be sold for huge money.

"But the vast majority of Forest fans did not know what he was about and what to expect. He played a bit for Newcastle but he wasn’t a regular in the starting XI. So he was kind of an unknown really.

"He was very much an understated signing. It went through because Newcastle needed to sell to comply with the financial rules. Forest had a goalkeeper, Odysseas Vlachodimos, go in the opposite direction so it was a transfer that you didn’t expect to snowball in the way that it has."

Once Anderson took to the field for his new club, it soon became apparent that, at £35m, Forest had landed themselves a bargain. "You could see that Forest had signed a really good player when he came in," Clapson continued.

"He obviously had something about him. He had quality and you could see he was a really good prospect. The past season is where he has come on hugely.

"He has established himself with England, as well as becoming a mainstay in the Forest team. You could see he was a good player in that first season but this last year in particular he has really stood up.

"You can see he is a special talent and he has grown as a player, as a person. He has really become settled into his way of playing, into what is expected of him.

"He has come out of his shell more than was the case when he first came in. He has really established himself and you can see he has still got room to grow, room to improve and develop but he is already a really special talent."

In April, tragedy struck for Anderson away from the pitch as his mother Helen died following an illness. Upon his return, he scored in a 5-0 thrashing of Sunderland and scored again, 48 hours after his mum's funeral, to secure a precious point against Newcastle.

His manager Vitor Pereira said Anderson wanted to honour his mother with a goal and Clapson believes the whole ordeal showed exactly the sort of character he is. "He has had a lot of personal things to deal with as well with his mum," she said.

"It shows his strength of mentality and it is not just what he is like as a player, it is what he is like as a person in the dressing room and the standards that he sets." Back to football, Anderson had plenty of upheaval to contend with.

Nuno Espirito Santo led Forest into the season before being replaced by Ange Postecoglou in September. The Australian lasted one month before being sacked and Sean Dyche took charge. Dyche only lasted until February before Pereira was appointed and saw out the season.

Despite all this, Anderson just kept going. "Forest have had a lot of upheaval and a lot of managerial change and that has been tricky for some players to deal with but Anderson just gets on with it. He takes everything in his stride," Clapson explained.

"He goes out there, does what he does and is very good at it and it shows because there is a lot of interest in him this summer and for very good reason. He is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League this past season and quite rightly Forest know his value, know what he is worth, know how important he is and what his potential is as well."

Clapson believes Forest are using Declan Rice's £100m transfer from West Ham to Arsenal as a benchmark for their valuation. "I think £100m is probably the baseline and then Forest know, if he has a good World Cup with England, his value is only going to increase because he will have shown what he is capable of on a world stage," she added.

"Forest hold all the cards at the minute in terms of how things stand. He is under contract, they aren’t under pressure to sell.

"They can kind of sit back and if he has a good World Cup, then his value is going to go up even more and they can probably negotiate an even better deal."

If Anderson were to join City, he would be expected to replace Bernardo immediately. While that may seem like the impossible job, Clapson has full confidence he can do it.

She said: "He is more than capable of stepping into that position and probably relishing it. When you watch him, and one of the things that is really noticeable about him, is that he is constantly demanding the ball.

"He is always there with his arms out stretched to pass to him, to find him and to give him the ball to do something. More often than not, he does.

"He is always looking to progress the play. He is always looking to find a teammate to get the team on the front foot and get Forest going forward. He always wants to be in the thick of things and I think that will be the same going on in his career, wherever he goes, whatever he does."

And whatever he does next seems unlikely to be in Nottingham. When City set their minds on a player, they very rarely miss out.

"He is very quiet, very unassuming, he doesn't give a lot away whenever he speaks to the media. I imagine in the dressing room he is probably similar," Clapson concluded.

"He is kind of a placid character in that sense but he wants to win, he is a winner. Forest would love to keep him. Ideally they want to keep the core of their squad together and he is a really important part of that. But if somebody puts a lot of money on the table, that can give any club a decision to make."