organ Gibbs-White hopes to become Nottingham Forest‘s first senior England player since 1997 this week yet with Elliot Anderson alongside him at the City Ground, the club may not have to wait so long for the next one.
Anderson’s talent is no secret – he was even compared to Diego Maradona by Joey Barton during a loan spell at Bristol Rovers – but the early signs this season suggest the 21-year-old is the real thing.
Though Anderson did not want to leave local club Newcastle in the summer, the transfer fee of up to £35m went some way to solving the club’s issues with Premier League spending rules.
Attractive personal terms and assurances about regular first-team football helped sweeten the deal and Anderson is settling well into his new home.
The next challenge is to make the breakthrough at international level. Though he also qualifies for Scotland and has represented them at Under-21 level, Anderson appears to be leaning towards England and was called up for the Under-21 squad for games against Northern Ireland and Austria later this month.
Anderson was often used as an attacker during the early part of his career but under Nuno Espirito Santo at Forest he is operating in a deep midfield duo.
With Ibrahim Sangare or Ryan Yates holding the fort in front of the back four, Anderson is free to charge forward and combine with Forest’s other creative players. He could have scored at least once against Wolves but also played an important role defensively. His set-piece delivery is another string to the bow and his pinpoint corner created the opener for Chris Wood.
Barton is not shy of an outlandish remark yet nor does he give praise easily, so his assessment of Anderson in March 2022 is worth revisiting. He said: ‘I was listening to recordings of (former Liverpool boss) Bill Shankly. He talked a lot about a 19-year-old Diego Maradona and how he slows down in the penalty area, exactly like Elliot Anderson does. Elliot is such a talent. He excites you. He’s a cracking player. Big future ahead.’
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