Man Utd should make Elliot Anderson their top transfer priority: Rising England star can have Declan Rice-esque impact on Red Devils' midfield

Anderson was one of the main driving forces behind Nottingham Forest’s brilliant 2024-25 campaign as they finished seventh in the Premier League in their third season back in the top-flight, narrowly missing out on the Champions League while reaching the FA Cup semi-finals. But while the Tricky Trees’ results have nosedived amid the upheaval of having three separate coaches already this term, Anderson has continued to stand tall. Taller than every other midfielder in the Premier League, in fact.

Name every attribute you want a midfielder to have, and there is a good chance Anderson will lead the way in it. According to FBREF, he sits No.1 among Premier League midfielders in passes attempted, passes completed, progressive passes, passes into the final third, short passes attempted and completed. 

He also has the highest passing distance among midfielders (and the fourth-highest in the league) and highest progressive passing distance of any midfielder. In that last category, he is ranked 20th in the league in a field dominated by goalkeepers. The closest midfielder to him is Fernandes in 30th, then Granit Xhaka at 45th while his England team-mate Declan Rice is 50th. Anderson has an accumulated progressive passing distance of 3844 metres, 447 more than Fernandes, 986 more than Xhaka and 1049 more than Rice. 

In addition, he has more touches on the ball than any other midfielder, and the most ball recoveries.

"Elliot Anderson can do it all," said former United and England winger Ashley Young. "He can defend, he can get on the front foot, he can play line-breaking passes. He can create, he can do the other side of it as well and win the tackles and release the players further forward."

Anderson displayed that passing vision with an assist for Chris Wood on the opening day of this season, threading the ball into the forward's path from behind the halfway line. In England’s 5-0 win away to Serbia in September, meanwhile, he provided a pre-assist with his forward pass to Morgan Rogers, whose flashy flick of the boot released goal-scorer Noni Madueke. No Serbia player managed to dribble past him that night, while in the 5-0 drubbing of Latvia last month which sealed England’s spot at the World Cup, Anderson completed 121 passes, the most by any player in an England away game since 2008.

What has really stood out for England has been Anderson's ability to take the ball from defence and glide past opponents to distribute it further downfield. "His physicality for a player of his size, the way he can keep people away from the ball and get about the pitch is a big strength," said his England team-mate Dan Burn, who also played alongside him at Newcastle. "He's always wanting the ball wherever he is. He's so calm when he gets it, he's got that eye for the passes that we probably need."

Speaking after his excellent debut for England against Andorra amid an otherwise dreary team performance in June, Thomas Tuchel said of Anderson. "He has the physicality, he's a very mobile No.6. He has the body, he loves to defend, he loves to put his body inside to win duels. He loves passing, he loves to break the lines. And he's just very mobile in his game."

Rice, who has lacked a consistent partner for England since Kalvin Phillips' peak at Euro 2020, is really enjoying playing alongside Anderson: "He has taken it all in his stride and is playing like he plays for his club. When you have a lad who is that confident and comes in and feels he does not have to do anything different, it's like autopilot the way he plays. We are building up a nice little partnership."

Anderson’s versatility explains why he has managed to perform well for each of his three Forest coaches, going from the counter-attacking football of Nuno Espirito Santo to the positional play of Ange Postecoglou and then back to the more reactive play of Sean Dyche. Nuno deployed him all over the midfield, from an anchoring No.6 to a driving No.8 to a creative No.10 when Morgan Gibbs-White was unavailable. 

Eddie Howe also played Anderson in more attacking roles when in charge of him at Newcastle before he was sold to Forest for £35 million ($46m) in a move that was widely considered to have been to ease the Magpies' PSR concerns.

Forest might be about to make a massive return on that investment as the latest reports claim they will demand between £100m and £120m ($131.5m-$158m) for Anderson. It is a similar price tag that United were quoted by Brighton for Carlos Baleba over the summer, which ultimately led to them turning away from the Cameroon international. 

Anderson’s stock has risen way above Baleba’s in the last three months, and a £100m-plus fee is not actually that outlandish when compared to the two leading midfielders in the league over the last couple of years, Rice and Moises Caicedo. Arsenal paid a club-record £105m to sign Rice from West Ham in 2023. He was 24 at the time and was also an England regular at that stage, albeit with considerably more experience than Anderson given he had both a European Championship and a World Cup under his belt. Caicedo, meanwhile, moved from Brighton to Chelsea at the age of 21 that same summer for £115m.

Rice has been the main driving force behind Arsenal’s consistent results over the last three seasons while Caicedo was instrumental to Chelsea finishing fourth in the league last season and to them winning the Club World Cup. And if Anderson, who only turned 23 at the start of November, continues on the same path he is at the moment, there is no reason why he could not do the same for United.

His ability to play in different midfield roles will also be useful for the club’s succession planning. He could fill in for Casemiro next season as Amorim’s primary holding midfielder if the Brazilian leaves this summer before taking the baton from Fernandes in 2027, when the captain’s current contract will be up.

There seems to be unanimous agreement that Anderson is a player on the rise and who has the mentality to cope with a potential move to United.

"He has all the hallmarks of players who get absolutely everything they can out of their careers," said Postecoglou during his brief stint in charge at the City Ground. "He has such a strong outlook and understanding of what is important in his life. He wants to be the best he can be. He is very professional. He looks after himself off the field. He makes sure everything he does is right. That shows me that there is even more improvement in him, when you see that kind of mentality."

Dyche made a point of Anderson’s loud mouth, something he has in common with Fernandes, but he also emphasised his other qualities: "He deals with the ball well and has a really good attitude. He's got that nice nature about him. He moans in a good way. He's a really good player. He is learning as he goes about the Premier League, positionally and the nuts and bolts of it, but he is a really good player."

Anderson’s positive personality traits are extra important as United have made a point of prioritising players with good attitudes after having bad experiences with the likes of Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho and Jadon Sancho in recent years. It was also reported this week that Amorim had given Manuel Ugarte a dressing down in front of his team-mates for resting on his laurels since joining the club. As Leny Yoro put it: "We don't want any bad things in the team. We cannot build something with bad energy or bad atmosphere or bad characters."

Amorim name-checked Anderson ahead of United’s recent game at Forest, describing him as a "very, very good player" and it set tongues wagging online as last season he had singled out Cunha before playing Wolves, and a couple of months later United signed the Brazilian.

There is an obvious precedent when it comes to United targeting a young tenacious holding midfielder from Forest given that is where they signed Roy Keane from. United broke the British transfer record to sign Keane in 1993 for £3.75m, and it might take another record fee to get Anderson to Old Trafford. But if it means getting an England star who can have the same impact as Rice or Caicedo, it is a price well worth paying.