Manchester City have made a verbal offer for Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson worth more than £100m.
The bid was worth £106million (€122m, $142m) up front with potential add-ons taking it in excess of £120m (€139m, $160m).
To consider a sale of the England international Forest want the fixed fee to eclipse the £125m British record Liverpool paid Newcastle United for Alexander Isak last summer.
The Athletic previously reported that City had an opening bid for the 23-year-old rejected earlier this month.
Manchester United’s admiration for Anderson is well documented but they are not in contention at the current financial levels.
United are refusing to enter a bidding war, and are instead targeting players who want them and focusing on options such as West Ham’s Mateus Fernandes and Bournemouth’s Alex Scott.
Fellow midfielders Declan Rice, Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez have all moved for packages of around £100m or higher in recent years.
Anderson has three years remaining on the contract he signed after joining from Newcastle United in the summer of 2023, a £35m deal which saw Odysseas Vlachodimos go the other way and which valued the England international at £15m.
He featured in all 38 of Forest’s Premier League games in 2025-26, scoring four goals and providing four assists. He made his England debut last September and has remained a crucial part of the side since, including being named in Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad and being handed the No. 8 shirt for the tournament.
Why do City want Anderson?
Analysis by Manchester City correspondent Sam Lee
City are generally always in the market for top, English talent for obvious reasons, including homegrown regulations and the fact they are generally proven in the Premier League.
Anderson evidently fits that bill and is seen as the replacement for Bernardo Silva. Having made more touches than anybody else in the Premier League last season, for a side in Forest who are not heavy on possession, it shows how involved and influential he likes to be. He also showed with his fine goal at City in a 2-2 draw in March that he has class.
City have had some problems in recent years when trying to recruit players no better than their established stars, for example buying Kalvin Phillips and Nico Gonzalez who have, to different extents, not been the relatively cheap alternative that City were hoping for. But with Bernardo gone, City can aim for a top talent capable of going straight into the team and Anderson ticks a lot of boxes.
