Elliot Anderson deal shows the madness of the market

Nottingham Forest are briefing it’s £130M. Manchester City are briefing it’s £116M.

Either way, one thing is certain: Man City are paying Forest well over £100M for Elliot Anderson.

Now don’t get me wrong: Anderson is a good player. He is the all-round package in midfield — energetic, good on the ball and brilliant at disrupting play and getting possession back.

Anderson contested a Premier League-leading 430 ground duels in 2025-26, 36 more than any other player. He won 231 of these, 32 clear of next-best João Gomes.

His 104 tackles attempted was bettered by only three players, while Anderson won possession a whopping 306 times. That was 94 more than any other player in the top flight.

He also ranked extremely highly for passes attempted (4th, with 2,383) and passes completed (6th, with 2,038). Plenty of those were in the final third, too.

Throw in that he is just 23 and now one of the first picks in Thomas Tuchel’s England team, then you can see why he has attracted interest, not just from Man City, but from Manchester United and even some of Europe’s biggest clubs.

Yet is that really worth what could be a record-breaking fee, which will rank in the top 10 all-time biggest transfers? Come on…

It shows the madness of the transfer market, particularly in the Premier League, when a half-decent young player is going for such a big sum.

Anderson did register 8 Premier League goal involvements last season (4 goals, 4 assists), but surely, for such a huge amount, a player should be world class? He didn’t look particularly world class as England struggled to move the ball with any pace through midfield against Ghana on Tuesday.

Yes, Man City have a fantastic track record, and yes, Anderson is clearly a big talent, but let’s not forget that he won’t be going into a team managed by Pep Guardiola.

No, instead it’ll be Enzo Maresca who gets his hands on Anderson, and while the Italian is a good coach, he is nowhere near Guardiola’s level, and it remains to be seen how Man City will fare now the great man has left.

How does this all link to Everton, though?

Well, it shows the madness of the market they are operating in.

Earlier this week, there were reports of Newcastle United — who will surely be kicking themselves for selling Anderson in the first place, even if it was down to PSR needs — holding an interest in James Garner.

Coincidentally, Garner’s stats tally up well against Anderson. They are comparable players. Anderson is a better dribbler and ball-carrier, but otherwise there’s hardly much in it. As I’ve written previously, Garner should be in the England squad.

Everton are unlikely to consider selling, but just as Anthony Gordon’s £70M move from Newcastle to Barcelona has set the market for Premier League wingers (i.e. Iliman Ndiaye), this move for Anderson sets the bar for combative, energetic, central midfielders entering their prime years.

That can be seen as a positive for Everton, of course. I highly doubt there is any plan to sell Garner, especially since he signed a new deal last season, but every player has a price. The Toffees could now feasibly demand towards £100M for a player they signed for just £12M four years ago. 

And as good as Garner is, he shouldn’t be a £100M player.

On the flip side, though, it makes the jobs of CEO Angus Kinnear and Head of Trading Nick Hammond that much harder when it comes to getting bang for Everton’s buck.

Look at the Hayden Hackney deal.

Everton, and more pertinently, Hackney’s agency, were confident a deal could be struck for the midfielder in the region of £15M, which would probably represent fair value for a player that has never played above the second tier and only has a year left to run on his contract.

Yet Middlesbrough have so far been unwilling to budge on a valuation that is said to be more like £20M+.

There’s always going to be some give and take in negotiations, but this market is now, frankly, insane. Finding value, especially in England, is getting tougher by the minute.

It’s not impossible, and at the end of the day there are highly paid professionals who make a living in making deals happen at the right price.

But throw in that there should be a need for urgency, to have players in the door for pre-season, and that’s where the powers that be must weigh up the pros and cons of trying to eek out maximum value.

It is also why Everton must be firm with David Moyes. Looking for Premier League experience should not be a prerequisite, because simply put it makes those players too expensive.

Instead, it should be about what attributes any targets can bring to this squad, and if that means shopping abroad and giving those players a bit more time to settle, so be it.

If you can strike gold and get a player from abroad who has previous Premier League experience, or experience of English football (a bit like Ndiaye when he signed from Marseille) then brilliant. But the manager will have to be flexible.

This market is crazy, and Everton are going to have to be adaptable.

All stats via Opta Analyst

 

 

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