Elliot Anderson did not rank highly when Manchester City’s analysts first ran the numbers. Starting from a database of 650,000 players, the club cut it down to a longlist, and Anderson sat well down that list.
Hugo Viana, City’s director of football, has now explained how he ended up as a £116 million signing from Nottingham Forest. Viana, 43, described the process to the BBC’s Sami Mokbel.
Reading the numbers
The raw figures were modest. Forest do not hold the ball for long stretches or camp in the opposition half the way City do, so Anderson’s goals and assists were limited. Several measures on his radar chart, among them defensive regains, duel success, line-breaking passes, aerial duels and defensive errors, needed heavy adjustment before they matched his real level, City’s analysts concluded.
Take the defensive errors. Many came from being asked to play out quickly from deep in transition. At City, with better technical options close by, that risk would be much lower. The club modelled his output in a possession-heavy side playing nearer the opponent’s goal, and the projections improved materially.
Scouts and the wider performance team worked on him at the same time as the analysts. “The data was positive for Elliot and gave us real confidence in his profile,” Viana said, “but it was the insight from our scouts and wider performance team that helped us understand the player and his attributes and this proved our belief that he was the right fit for the club.”
Next to City’s current midfielders and other targets in the same position, Anderson held up. The fee climbed beyond what City first thought he was worth, and they went ahead anyway.
The brief
City knew before the window opened that they needed at least one central midfielder. Bernardo Silva’s move to Real Madrid had been expected for some time, and the futures of Rodri and Nico Gonzalez were unclear. Replacing Silva and Rodri like for like was judged unrealistic. So the target became a player who could work from either a deep or an advanced central role under Enzo Maresca.
Doubt about Tijjani Reijnders’ future came up as the season went on. By then, the club had identified Enzo Fernandez as his main replacement.
Anderson has since become a fixture in Maresca’s three-man midfield with Fernandez and Nico O’Reilly. He started all five of City’s opening Premier League wins of the 2026/27 season.
Sources
- Manchester City agree record £116M deal for Nottingham Forest's Elliot Anderson
- With the key move complete, Manchester City can now focus on their next moves in the transfer market
- Viana Outlines Man City's Data-Led Pursuit of Elliot Anderson From Forest
