ELLIOT ANDERSON is a great player, who had a good season at Nottingham Forest and is doing well at this World Cup.
But there will be expectations of him now. Manchester City are there to win leagues.
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Elliot Anderson’s mega-move to Manchester City could cause problems Credit: PA
He will be challenging the likes of Rodri for his spot in the starting line-up Credit: Alamy
Elliot needs to get his head round that as quickly as possible — that he’s going to be challenging for a title.
Bernardo Silva leaving frees up a gap in the City midfield.
But with him playing the same position as Rodri, City are making a bit of a problem for themselves. Where does everyone play?
Rodri is going to want to play. And Elliot is going to want to play.
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Does the incoming manager push one of them forward? Does he sit with a two?
I am not shocked by Anderson’s £116million price.
Forest will have looked at current markets — and that Declan Rice went from West Ham to Arsenal and Moises Caicedo from Brighton to Chelsea for big money. Enzo Fernandez, too.
These are the types of players — a defensive midfielder or a No 6 as we call it — from where things start ticking.
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So the price tag is well over £100m, which sounds crazy. Yet I remember when I was bought for £50m from Tottenham in 2017.
Everyone was saying that was far too much and asking why they were buying me for that money. It looks like I was cheap!
Players don’t think about their price but you do have to prove you were worth the money. Elliot will come up against a lot of outside pressures.
What he needs to do is concentrate on his performances on the field.
There are no guarantees in football. You have to trust in your own ability — as I did when I moved from Tottenham to City.
But I didn’t worry about anything. I just knew that I was there for the way I played football.
Elliot needs to continue the form he’s shown for Forest and England — and follow it up at City.
Of course, Kalvin Phillips made a similar move from Leeds a few years back and who knows why it didn’t really work out for him.
When Fernandinho left, Rodri stepped into his place and just set the world alight. That was unlucky for Kalvin.
Rodri was so good that anyone that came into that position didn’t get a look-in.
But Kalvin still won a Champions League, which people seem to forget. He was also there in the Treble-season team — and I rate anyone who wins a Treble.
All that said, I don’t like to hear speculation about these transfers during a World Cup. I wouldn’t like it because you’re concentrating on England.
Could this have been done after the World Cup? Yes. But probably both the player and the club want to get it done as soon as possible.
Personally, I wouldn’t want the noise around me while I’m competing for my country in the World Cup.
On a separate note I see a lot of chatter about Jude Bellingham and whether he’s running the risk of getting sent off.
There have been questions about him putting his hand over his mouth to talk, which is now a sending-off offence, and he has to be careful.
Jude Bellingham sparked conversation after covering his mouth while talking to Jordan Ayew Credit: Getty
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It is a normal thing for players to do — I do it myself — But everyone has to be mindful of the new rules.
He got into a small argument with the Ghana bench as well but you can’t take that fight out of Jude — that way he has of playing on the edge. That is what makes him such a great player.
He plays with his heart on his sleeve but he needs to be calculated with his head. He can’t go too far.
People seem to have a certain perception about Jude but I can tell you that around the camp he’s nothing but class. And he’s at Real Madrid for a reason — he’s a top-class player.
We’ve got Panama on Saturday and that brings back memories for me of when I played in the 6-1 win against them at the 2018 World Cup.
It was a strange game where we were 5-0 up at half-time.
If you break through with that first goal, which we couldn’t do against Ghana, then it frees you up and you can go on from there.
As I said in my last column, we need forward runners, we need people in the box, we need some shots, we need to penetrate the backline.
England cruised to a 6-1 win over Panama in 2018 Credit: Getty – Contributor
Ghana’s gone now. I don’t see much point in talking about it because we can’t change it.
All will be forgotten if there’s a good game against Panama and we get the victory we need in good style.
On a normal day you look at the two sides and England have got too much.
They need to attack this game differently to get us in the media off their back!
Let’s chuck the kitchen sink at it and see what happens.
