Man City Seal Stunning Record-Smashing Deal for Elliot Anderson

Manchester City have announced they have struck a deal to acquire Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson in a transfer expected to set a new record for a British player.

Anderson is currently on international duty with England at the World Cup, where he has completed a medical while remaining committed to his country's tournament campaign.

"The official paperwork for the transfer will be completed once he returns to England," City confirmed in an official statement.

"In the meantime, everyone at Manchester City extends their best wishes to Elliot and the England squad for their World Cup campaign, and we look forward to welcoming him to Manchester when the time comes."

City are reported to have agreed a fee of $153.9 million (£116 million) with Forest, seeing off interest from several domestic competitors, including Manchester United.

How Anderson's Transfer Compares to Biggest British Signings

The agreement taking Anderson to the Etihad is not thought to contain any performance-related add-ons, meaning the deal surpasses Florian Wirtz's move to Liverpool, which required bonuses to reach the £116 million threshold.

Although Anderson's move to City falls just short of the Premier League transfer record—trailing only Alexander Isak's £125 million switch to Liverpool last summer—the midfielder has nonetheless become the costliest British player ever purchased.

The fee is £1 million higher than Real Madrid's signing of Jude Bellingham, which carried an initial price tag of £88.5 million but could climb to as much as £115 million with add-ons included.

Depending on how the British transfer record is defined, Arsenal's Declan Rice may have previously held the title. The Gunners paid a total of £105 million for the player who has lined up alongside Anderson in England's midfield at the World Cup—£100 million upfront plus an additional £5 million in bonuses.

The details surrounding Harry Kane's 2023 move to Bayern Munich have been widely discussed. Club representatives have cited an initial fee of £82 million, though the full package is believed to be worth up to £104 million, placing the striker ahead of Jack Grealish and his £100 million transfer to City in 2021. Grealish and Anderson could find themselves as teammates next season unless the former departs in the final year of his contract.

While those deals have all occurred within the past five years, it previously took a remarkable eight years for the British record to be broken after Gareth Bale's £85.3 million departure from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid back in 2013.

SI answers is our AI answer engine trained on human-created content.

*includes add-ons