When England questions were off the table for Elliot Anderson
The former Newcastle United midfielder is starring for his country at the World Cup finals ahead of a British-record transfer from Nottingham Forest to Manchester City.
Questions about the senior England team were off the table a little over a year ago when I sat down with Elliot Anderson.
I was at Nottingham Forest’s training ground to interview Anderson, a player I had watched come up through the ranks at Newcastle United as a reporter covering the club.
Anderson had left St James’ Park the summer of 2024, the club having been forced to sell him, along with Yankuba Minteh, to comply with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules.
The move was right for the club in financial terms as it had to stay within the rules, but it was very wrong in a footballing sense.
And that was underlined in the months following his switch to the City Ground.
Anderson got the first-team starts he needed – and thrived.
By the time I sat down with Anderson, he was being tipped for a senior England call-up, such had been his impact at Forest.
I was interviewing him for FourFourTwo, who had named him as one of the top 50 Premier League players in the 2024/25 season.
Anderson, then an England Under-21 international, happily spoke about his “fresh start” at Forest – the team was flying at the time under then-head coach Nuno Espirito Santo – but there were to be no questions about a call-up to Thomas Tuchel’s squad, as he was focused on the Premier League run-in.
But an elevation from the England Under-21 squad was not long in coming, and Anderson quickly established himself at senior level after being called up for the first time last August.
And today, the Whitley Bay-born player – who I first watched play in front of a few hundred fans at Whitley Park – is starring on the biggest stage of all, the World Cup finals.
From a young age, it was clear that he was a special talent. Almost six ago, I interviewed his first coach at Wallsend Boys Club, and what he said about very young Anderson still resonates.
Anderson’s rise also reminded me of an interview from my time at university.
I spoke to legendary scout Jack Hixon – who discovered Alan Shearer – when I was a writing for a student newspaper.
Hixon said Shearer had the ability to play in any position, such was his talent, and the same can be said about Anderson, who played in a number of attacking roles for Newcastle.
At Forest, he is a No. 8, the position he played coming up through the ranks on Tyneside. The move to the City Ground helped him get to grips with what he called the “dirty side” of the game.
Tuchel also uses him in that deeper role, but his vision, and range of passing, also means he’s an attacking threat for club and country.
Anderson’s family, the coaches who have worked with him up to now, deserve credit for nurturing an exceptional talent.
Unquestionably, the move to Forest quickened his development, as he had the likes of Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton ahead of him at St James’ Park. He needed to start week in, week out, not come off the bench.
The move was probably the best thing for Anderson, as hard it was for him to leave his boyhood club and for fans to come to terms with the loss of one of the brightest talents to have emerged from the youth ranks in a generation.
It is no surprise that Manchester City have come calling, with the club having reportedly agreed a deal worth more than £116million for the 23-year-old.
Anderson, though, will be hoping to delay his arrival there for as long as possible – as he and his England team-mates have the world at their feet on the other side of the Atlantic.