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Apparently we have had this player on our radar for a while now, but thought he was out of reach.
We had not intention of signing any more midfield player in this window by considered the opportunity too good to miss:
www.nytimes.com
By Nick Miller
A reasonable rule of thumb to judge a new signing is how the fans of the club they’re leaving react.
By that measure, Nottingham Forest supporters might be pretty optimistic about the arrival of Elliot Anderson. Nobody connected to Newcastle United — fans, coaches, the manager — seems happy to see Anderson leave, beyond perhaps some relieved accountants.
Much of that reaction seems to be sentimental. Anderson is a local boy, one of the great homegrown hopes of this generation. He’s a graduate of Wallsend Boys Club, the youth team that Alan Shearer, Michael Carrick and Peter Beardsley, among dozens of other future Newcastle players, appeared for. His grandfather, Geoff Allen, played for Newcastle in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (sort of a precursor to the Europa League) winning side of 1969. He’s the player fans desperately wanted to work, to become the next Geordie to act as the fans’ proxy on the field.
The reality is that Anderson’s career at Newcastle seemed to be at something of a crossroads.
He was hyped before he reached the first team and continued to be highly rated by many at Newcastle. But since making his debut in January 2021, he made only 13 starts for the first team. Last season he made 26 appearances, 10 of which were starts.
Doubts ranged from what his best position was to whether he’s quick enough for the Premier League to injuries. He was never afforded much of a run in their first team, but was that because his season was disrupted by the back injury he picked up in October or because Eddie Howe simply wasn’t convinced that he was good enough?
On the latter point, Forest seem to agree with Anderson’s now former team-mate Kieran Trippier. “It’s crazy, really, how good he is,” he said of him in 2023. “He’s got a massive future ahead of him.”
This was something of a surprise signing: while they have admired Anderson for some time, Forest always assumed he was out of reach and midfield wasn’t an area they were actively looking to make additions in unless the right player became available. Newcastle’s concerns over the Premier League’s profit and sustainability regulations and their need to raise fast cash as June came to a close presented Forest with an opportunity.
Anderson is still only 21, an age which on the pitch clearly represents promise and, off the pitch, potential profit in terms of resale value.
He’s one of those players who feels like he has been around for a long time, but to put things in perspective from a Forest point of view, he’s only a few months older than Brandon Aguilera, who is still regarded as a raw prospect for the future.
But given Forest are believed to have paid a significant fee for Anderson — the details have not been made public yet — the scope for the sort of softly, softly patience afforded to Aguilera is relatively limited: he will be a first-team presence immediately. But where?
The answer might be a few different places. “What I love about Elliot is he’s versatile,” Eddie Howe told The Athletic last year. “He can play wide, he can play inside.”
We had not intention of signing any more midfield player in this window by considered the opportunity too good to miss:
Elliot Anderson at Nottingham Forest: Making sense of an opportunistic signing
How the young midfielder fits in at Forest
www.nytimes.com
By Nick Miller
A reasonable rule of thumb to judge a new signing is how the fans of the club they’re leaving react.
By that measure, Nottingham Forest supporters might be pretty optimistic about the arrival of Elliot Anderson. Nobody connected to Newcastle United — fans, coaches, the manager — seems happy to see Anderson leave, beyond perhaps some relieved accountants.
Much of that reaction seems to be sentimental. Anderson is a local boy, one of the great homegrown hopes of this generation. He’s a graduate of Wallsend Boys Club, the youth team that Alan Shearer, Michael Carrick and Peter Beardsley, among dozens of other future Newcastle players, appeared for. His grandfather, Geoff Allen, played for Newcastle in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (sort of a precursor to the Europa League) winning side of 1969. He’s the player fans desperately wanted to work, to become the next Geordie to act as the fans’ proxy on the field.
The reality is that Anderson’s career at Newcastle seemed to be at something of a crossroads.
He was hyped before he reached the first team and continued to be highly rated by many at Newcastle. But since making his debut in January 2021, he made only 13 starts for the first team. Last season he made 26 appearances, 10 of which were starts.
Doubts ranged from what his best position was to whether he’s quick enough for the Premier League to injuries. He was never afforded much of a run in their first team, but was that because his season was disrupted by the back injury he picked up in October or because Eddie Howe simply wasn’t convinced that he was good enough?
On the latter point, Forest seem to agree with Anderson’s now former team-mate Kieran Trippier. “It’s crazy, really, how good he is,” he said of him in 2023. “He’s got a massive future ahead of him.”
This was something of a surprise signing: while they have admired Anderson for some time, Forest always assumed he was out of reach and midfield wasn’t an area they were actively looking to make additions in unless the right player became available. Newcastle’s concerns over the Premier League’s profit and sustainability regulations and their need to raise fast cash as June came to a close presented Forest with an opportunity.
Anderson is still only 21, an age which on the pitch clearly represents promise and, off the pitch, potential profit in terms of resale value.
He’s one of those players who feels like he has been around for a long time, but to put things in perspective from a Forest point of view, he’s only a few months older than Brandon Aguilera, who is still regarded as a raw prospect for the future.
But given Forest are believed to have paid a significant fee for Anderson — the details have not been made public yet — the scope for the sort of softly, softly patience afforded to Aguilera is relatively limited: he will be a first-team presence immediately. But where?
The answer might be a few different places. “What I love about Elliot is he’s versatile,” Eddie Howe told The Athletic last year. “He can play wide, he can play inside.”
