Elliot Anderson: Nottingham Forest's Rising Star Worth £100m
At Nottingham Forest, the price of progress is rising fast – and Elliot Anderson sits right at the centre of it.
The young England midfielder has heavyweight admirers circling from both sides of Manchester, but anyone expecting a quick raid on the City Ground has misread the room. Evangelos Marinakis does not do cut‑price. He does battles of will. And he very rarely loses.
Anderson, the £100m question
Interest from the Etihad and Old Trafford is real enough, yet prising Anderson out of Trentside would take a bid that does more than turn heads – it would have to reshape Forest’s future. Those inside the club know that if they ever cash in, the collective coffers could be transformed in one move, funding an entire new phase of recruitment.
Talk around Anderson already comes with a nine‑figure echo. Any serious offer is expected to start north of £100 million, a fee that would place him among the most expensive midfielders in the game. City and United would not just be buying a player; they would be buying a cornerstone, one projected to light up this summer’s World Cup as part of Thomas Tuchel’s ambitious England set‑up.
His value may not have peaked yet. On North American soil, under the glare of a global tournament, it could rocket.
Jack Colback has seen enough already. The former Forest midfielder, speaking in association with Bally Bet, did not bother with caveats when asked what Anderson is now – and what he might become.
“He’s just very, very good. He’s a very old-fashioned kind of midfielder, where he does everything.
“Nowadays, you've got kind of No. 6, No. 8, No. 10, those sorts of positions. Elliot just does it all. His defensive play is fantastic. On the ball, he dictates play and is very good. He is creative and he also gets forward. He’s one of those that does it all. He could be one of the very best.”
That, in a few lines, is why Forest can name their price. Anderson tackles, presses, passes, creates, arrives in the box. He is system-proof, era-proof, and – crucially – under a club that no longer feels compelled to sell its best for survival money.
A new core at the City Ground
Anderson is not carrying this project alone. Morgan Gibbs‑White has already grown into the talismanic No.10, the kind of playmaker who drags games towards him in that iconic Garibaldi red. Behind them, Murillo has brought a different kind of swagger.
The Brazilian centre‑half, all power and poise, has quickly become one of the most intriguing defenders in the league. Colback was still at the club when the 23‑year‑old arrived and remembers the first impressions.
“I've watched him a few times. Live in the stadium, he's one of them who kind of looks like he's got a mistake in him. But he reads the game so well and reacts so well.
“They [Forest] have missed him a little bit this season with injuries, and that showed a bit in the form. But I think it's credit to the club, the recruitment has been really, really good for a good few years now – credit to the owner for that.”
Murillo has now committed to another new contract, one that runs through to 2030. If he sees that deal out, he will not just be a shrewd signing; he will be a pillar of the modern Forest, just as Gibbs‑White already feels like the heartbeat of this side.
This is the shift under Marinakis. Forest are no longer a shop window. They are building a core.
Legends, vets and the long view
While the present looks increasingly ambitious, the past has been back in the building too. Recent weeks have seen a return of familiar faces, including Colback, a key part of the 2022 promotion side that dragged Forest back into the Premier League.
That nostalgia has blended neatly with a different kind of celebration. Nottingham Forest’s front‑of‑shirt partner Bally Bet has been on a mission to shine a light on long‑serving grassroots players – the lifers who keep the game alive far from the TV cameras.
Forest great Mark Crossley was handed a charmingly old‑school task: pick the first ever All‑Stars Vets squad, a team built not on market value but on character, stories and years spent in the mud and rain. It was a salute to the real heartbeat of English football.
Crossley did not work alone. Other recognisable Forest figures joined him as he pieced together the Bally Bet All‑Stars, a squad of veterans suddenly given the kind of treatment usually reserved for Premier League stars. They swapped recreation grounds for the City Ground itself, running out on May 28 to face a side of hand‑picked Forest legends.
For one night, the pitch that now showcases Anderson, Gibbs‑White and Murillo belonged to the game’s unsung heroes. A reminder that while the modern Forest wrestle with £100m decisions and long contracts to 2030, the soul of the club still stretches from the top end of the market all the way back to the grassroots touchline.
The question now is simple: with this blend of hard‑nosed ownership, sharp recruitment and rising stars, how far can Forest push themselves before someone finally pays that price to break them apart?
