Elliot Anderson has morphed into a superstar

As part of the 2025-26 Nottingham Forest season preview for the newsletter, I highlighted Elliot Anderson’s impressive play from the season prior. He did a lot of the little things both in and out of possession that helps you be a consistent starter at a young age. His performances went under the radar, but he was one of several reasons which helped explain how Forest were able to outperform expectations with a 7th place finish. 

On a team level, Forest have had a tough go of things through 11 matches. While there was some expectation of a decline compared to the heights reached in 2024-25, being in 19th with a -10 goal difference is a rather severe dropoff. It’s led to them already being on their 3rd manager of the season in Sean Dyche, which is the kind of incoherent decision making that doesn’t inspire confidence within the fanbase.

However, if there has been one silver lining to this season for Forest, it’s been Anderson continuing last season’s form and playing like one of the better midfielders in the league. He remains an active participant out of possession, but what’s really popped has been his passing and progression output. You don’t see a lot of 23-year-old midfielders who constantly get the ball into dangerous areas like he’s shown in just over 1000 minutes.

What’s really stood with Anderson this season has been just how active he’s been at wanting to dictate the terms of engagement with the ball. Despite playing for three managers in three months, he’s remained the lead conductor for Forest when they try to progress into threatening areas. During early buildup, it’s common to see him bark at teammates to find him in the halfspace. If that doesn’t work, he'll just pick up the ball up from the backline and look to find openings himself outside of the opposition block, although perhaps he defaults to this a bit too much rather than being patient. 

Such a desire to have the ball is in combination with a burgeoning passing repertoire. The numbers paint Anderson as being an elite forward passer in the Premier League this season. Among midfielders with at least 600 minutes played in the PL, he’s first in line-breaking passes completed into the opposition half and deep progressions, according to Statsbomb. Those are a massive jump from last season, when he was 38th and 42nd respectively. FBref has him in the 99th percentile among PL CMs for progressive passes per 90 and passes into the final third. 

Anderson is not a midfielder who’ll simply circulate possession with sideways passes, but rather will try and find teammates in between the lines. This can happen in different ways. If he’s the deepest midfielder, he can simply try and squeeze passes into tight pockets of space. He can also flow from channel to channel to help connect sequences, and then make a short forward pass with his second touch into an open area to get the opposition scrambling a bit. It’s a phrase I’ve used periodically in the past, and it comes from the NFL, but he’s the kind of midfielder who helps keep the chains moving. Part of this includes impressive deliveries on lobs towards the flank for runners to get onto so attacks can speed up. I’m not big on using YouTube compilations to prove a point, but I think this provides a decent overview on what he can do.

Once Anderson has the ball in the final third, whether it be against a settled block or in some form of a transition, he’s a capable playmaker. According to FBref, he’s in the 86th percentile for passes into the box and 96th for crosses into the penalty area. He’s got a good range of passes, and isn’t reluctant to use either foot to find the necessary angle. The weighting for those penetrative passes and throughballs can be a bit short. While he has really good awareness for releasing teammates into space when in the middle third, it’s not quite as consistent around the box. His willingness to make underlapping runs help with generating cut-backs and short-range crosses around the wide areas of the box.

Maybe the most interesting part of Anderson’s statistical profile has been how valuable his dribbling and carrying output has been. He’s been quite an active ball carrier, especially in situations where he immediately recovers the loose ball (99th percentile in ball recoveries via FBref). His go-to move in those situations is a change of direction from right to left, similar to spamming the fake shot combo in video games. The next step for him is becoming a better decision maker after initially getting past his marker, and not holding onto it for that extra beat. That way, he’d not only be a solid passer while staying in a more stationary position, but also on the move.

Out of possession, Anderson was and still remains something of a risk taker. The clearest way is just how eager he is at trying to press up on opponents with their back to goal. He can be the equivalent of a heat seeking missile in those moments, which carries the risk of him committing unnecessary fouls along with simply missing his marker and ending up out of position. Against agile opponents, he can be susceptible to being left in the dust and can have awkward positioning with 1v1 defending in general vs shifty opponents. 

What is clear is for the deficiencies he might have when defending his man, he’s helpful in the aggregate with just his energy and intent. This can be seen to some extent with how high he ranks at pressures when adjusting for possessions. Covering for his fullback is something regularly seen when Forest are defending in their own half. He’s keen to use the sidelines to help trap opponents, including as a helper for double teams, although his awareness for blocking off passing lanes from wide into the halfspace is a bit hit or miss.

Anderson had already shown flashes of high-level two-way play last season, and despite all the chaos that’s gone on around him through nearly the first 3rd of the season, his game has potentially improved. He’s shown to be a technically proficient midfielder who gets his team forward in a consistent manner, while providing ball-winning attributes when defending. One can argue that he’s not among the best at any particular skill, but he does a lot of things solidly.

It’s abundantly clear that these performances have helped improve Anderson’s stock by a considerable margin. Between him and Adam Wharton, there’s almost a competition between the two to see who’ll be the next English midfielder to be the subject of a big money move. While Wharton is possibly the better of the two right now when it comes to generating high value passes, there’s a robustness and plug and play element to Anderson which is hard to deny and could make him more portable into different situations.

The next question is whether or not someone (very likely one of the big English sides) should spend incredible amounts of cash to acquire Anderson. Reports indicate Forest value him in the region of £100m, which isn’t surprising given the combination of the Premier League and English premiums. As well, we’ve seen midfielders with at least a somewhat adjacent skill-set signed in mega transfers in recent years. Anywhere near that reported fee would represent a major profit for Forest, after taking advantage of Newcastle’s tight situation with profitability and sustainability rules.

Manchester United would be the obvious target given their major hole in midfield. While it’s not hard to see how Anderson would be an improvement over what United currently have, it’s fair to be skeptical about spending such lavish sums of money to acquire him. Their tight financial situation means they can’t spend £100m or so for a very good but perhaps not great player. Guys like Declan Rice and Moisés Caicedo have shown how high the bar is to be a worthwhile investment at such a high price tag. They also need multiple midfielders who can provide the athleticism needed for Ruben Amorim’s system to function properly, including a sitting midfielder which Anderson isn’t.

Anderson has been one of the breakout stars of the 2025-26 Premier League season. He’s been the one dependable source of quality for a floundering Forest side, and that’s made him a potential summer transfer target, along with getting into the England national team picture for the 2026 World Cup. How much of this form will continue for the rest of the season is up for debate, and there’ll be debates about whether or not he can become a star midfielder. What’s clear is by being good at several skills, Elliot Anderson is an example of how much value a high floor midfielder can bring.

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