INEOS readying Man Utd bid to sign £80m Anderson & Fernandes upgrade

Will it be another missed opportunity for Manchester United, or prove to be a bullet dodged? That is the question surrounding England’s Elliot Anderson, ahead of his imminent move to the Etihad.

From Declan Rice to Harry Kane, United have been trumped when it comes to the top English talent over recent years, no longer the dominant force domestically.

That pair felt like a sure thing, amid their respective moves to Arsenal and Bayern Munich in 2023, however, while the £130m forked out for a still relatively untested Anderson has certainly raised some eyebrows.

A talent he might be, it’s worth noting that two years ago the now 23-year-old wasn’t even in the England conversation, with Kobbie Mainoo very much emerging as the midfield golden boy at Euro 2024.

Missing out on the Geordie to Enzo Maresca and Manchester City may not sting too greatly, therefore – there’s plenty more fish in the sea.

Man Utd readying first bid to sign £80m Premier League star

Anderson had been INEOS’ primary target this summer, although they appear to have now pivoted to West Ham United’s Mateus Fernandes.

Personal terms aren’t expected to be an issue, with the 21-year-old believed to favour an Old Trafford switch, although Tottenham Hotspur are making a big play, currently deemed more likely to meet the Hammers’ asking price.

United won’t want to be forced into overpaying, not least having already drawn up a list of rival targets and alternatives, with it potentially not the end of the world if Fernandes does move to north London instead.

Indeed, there are potentially other moves in the works, with Football Insider reporting that the Red Devils are currently the closest to submitting a bid for Anderson’s Nottingham Forest teammate, Morgan Gibbs-White.

As per the report, the 26-year-old could actually push to leave the City Ground this summer, a year on from signing a new deal following his failed move to Spurs.

Prior reports did indicate that there is an £80m release clause in his contract that can be activated by Champions League clubs, with Gibbs-White also making no secret of his United allegiance in the past.

Gibbs-White would be such a better signing than Anderson & Fernandes

Anderson, by all accounts, may well prove to be the standout deal of the summer, considering the eye-watering nature of the transfer fee, but it wouldn’t be wrong to suggest that he isn’t even the best English talent at Forest right now.

That status belongs to Gibbs-White, the former Wolverhampton Wanderers playmaker having long been the talismanic figure in Nottingham, almost singlehandedly dragging the club to safety last season.

A player who can operate as a number eight, a number ten or on the flanks, Gibbs-White was actually the second-highest scoring English player in the Premier League last term, having been a surprise omission from Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad.

Across the final ten games of the season, he scored nine goals in the top-flight, including a crucial hat-trick at home to Burnley, as well as a delightful, deft finish away at Old Trafford in the penultimate game of the campaign.

His 15 league goals comfortably trumped both Anderson and young Fernandes, the pair scoring just seven times between them, while his tally of four assists was matched by the two men.

This was no mere flash in the pan for Gibbs-White either, having chalked up 43 goals and assists in the Premier League between 2022/23 and 2024/25, so consistently reliable even in turbulent times for the Tricky Trees.

In that 2024/25 campaign, for instance, he notched 15 goals and assists, while both Anderson and Fernandes racked up just eight and six apiece for Forest and Southampton, respectively.

It could be argued that such a superior record is down to Gibbs-White’s more advanced role, although both Anderson and Fernandes have also been utilised on the flanks or as a number ten at times in recent seasons.

It is for form like that that he has been hailed as the “most similar player to Bruno Fernandes“, a player who relishes his status as the leading light and captain at the City Ground.

Since joining from Wolves back in 2022, Gibbs-White has consistently delivered the goods both in a goal-scoring and creative sense, now up to 71 goals and assists in 175 games for the club in all competitions.

For both Fernandes and Anderson, the pair have only truly enjoyed two consistent seasons at Premier League level, perhaps yet to really warrant such sizeable investment.

That duo appear project players, those who can be nurtured and developed for the long-term. In Gibbs-White’s case, he’s ready to make an impact in the here and now, perhaps representing an even more well-suited understudy to the United skipper than that of Mateus Fernandes.