Manchester City are optimistic about closing a deal to sign Elliot Anderson despite seeing a bid worth £121million rejected by Nottingham Forest.
Man City intentionally offered £106m plus £15m in add-ons before the World Cup due to fears the England midfielder’s price could rise further at the tournament.
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England international Anderson has always favoured a move to the Etihad StadiumCredit: Getty
A further bid is expected in the coming weeks, with the parties not too far apart in valuation.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is personally handling the negotiations and keeping other senior officials in the club in the dark, including manager Vitor Pereira.
Elliot Anderson to Man City update
Forest ideally want a British transfer record fee surpassing the £125m that saw Alexander Isak move from Newcastle to Liverpool last summer.
It remains to be seen whether City go that high, but there is an expectation that the parties will come to an agreement after Anderson informed both City and Forest that he wants to join.
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Although Thomas Tuchel is content for players to undergo medicals on international duty with England, talkSPORT understands Forest could delay formalisation on any deal until July, since it’s more preferable for the club to declare such a sale on the next financial year.
Meanwhile, Manchester United are currently focused on West Ham’s Mateus Fernandes despite viewing Anderson as a dream target.
United don’t want to enter into a bidding war without player buy-in, and have instead made relegated Fernandes their top priority.
The Red Devils United are already closing in on a deal to sign Atalanta’s Ederson, with a £38.8million move expected imminently.
As for Anderson, he is set to start alongside Declan Rice in England’s World Cup opener against Croatia on June 17, live on talkSPORT.
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Tuchel has revealed he wouldn’t stand in the way of Anderson completing a medicalCredit: Getty
The 23-year-old’s future has been the main talking point of the summer window following a season in which he scored four goals and registered as many assists in 38 matches for Forest.
Anderson has enjoyed a meteoric rise since arriving at the City Ground from Newcastle in the summer of 2024 for a fee of £35m.
In fact, his arrival effectively went down as just £15m on the balance sheet, with Odysseas Vlachodimos also moving in the opposite direction for £20m so that Eddie Howe’s men could comply with PSR.
Only 30 months before that, Anderson was sealing a loan move from his boyhood Magpies to Bristol Rovers, who were 12th in League Two.
His expected triple-figure switch to the Etihad four years on is now thought to be linked to doubts over Rodri’s future amid interest from Real Madrid.
City have already lost one key midfield star to the Bernabeu, with Bernardo Silva agreeing in principle to join on a free transfer.