Anderson is ‘not a first-choice England player’ and Man City fee was ‘totally over the top’ | OneFootball

Manchester City have been told they paid a “totally over the top” fee for Elliot Anderson, who Bryan King feels is “not a first-choice England player.”

City have spent the last few weeks attempting to secure Anderson‘s services. They surged past other interested sides and only had to contend with Nottingham Forest’s price tag for the player.

The City Ground outfit were believed to be holding out for £130million, and while David Ornstein suggests the fee will be a flat £116million, other outlets, such as our friends at TEAMtalk, believe it’s closer to the higher figure.

Either way, former Premier League scout King has called out City for overpaying for Anderson.

He told Football Insider: “Good job he’s going to Man City because no one else could afford it.

“The figure amazes me, to be honest. He’s a good player. I don’t think he’s a first-choice England player. And for £116million, that’s what I’d expect.

“But there again, if somebody’s prepared to pay that kind of money, then I would imagine Nottingham Forest would have bitten anybody’s hand off because totally over the top for me.

“For me, I’d have said £70million would have been a right figure for anybody to pay for him.”

Anderson is an England starter

The suggestion that Anderson is not a first-choice England player is wrong – he evidently is one.

Indeed, he’s started all three games for the Three Lions at the 2026 World Cup so far – playing 90 minutes, then 74 and 84.

Of the three games prior the the World Cup, the soon-to-be City man started twice and played 45 minutes in another.

King is entitled to his opinion on Anderson’s fee, and many others feel the transfer is a large one, but his first-choice status for England can’t be questioned.

In fact, Paul Scholes feels the 23-year-old should keep his place and Declan Rice not return to the XI even when he’s fit, after the Arsenal man missed the last game.

Scholes said: “No disrespect to Congo but in those type of games you play as many attackers as possible. I think it has to be a straight shootout between Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson, and I think I would just go with Anderson.

“I think he will pass it forward a bit more. Think about Rice with Arsenal… look, he’s a great player and a great leader, I get all that, and you’d rather him in your team than not most of the time.”