Ilkay Gundogan reacts to Manchester City’s record £116M agreement to sign Elliot Anderson | OneFootball

Former Manchester City skipper Ilkay Gundogan has offered a glowing assessment of Elliot Anderson ahead of the midfielder’s imminent move to the Etihad Stadium.

Anderson is understood to be on the verge of completing a British record transfer to Manchester City, with the 23-year-old set to undergo a medical in New York on Friday after receiving permission from England manager Thomas Tuchel for the same.

Gundogan, who won five Premier League titles at the Etihad Stadium before departing for Barcelona in 2023 – only to return a year later for another season – is well placed to speak to the qualities City’s fanbase values most in a midfield addition.

Gundogan: Manchester will be very happy with Anderson

In a recent appearance on ESPN Podcasts, Gundogan was asked whether Anderson represents the kind of superstar profile Manchester City needed to target to begin their rebuild following the recent departure of Pep Guardiola from the Etihad Stadium.

“I wouldn’t say he’s a big game, I mean obviously he’s someone that everyone knows but I don’t think they’re signing him as a superstar, they’re signing him as a team player,” the former Manchester City treble winning captain said on Anderson.

On the England international’s price-tag specifically, Gundogan added: “He’s expensive – yes – but this is the Premier League, you know? This is where the best play so it’s quite normal now, I mean these sums are still huge or sound huge but in the end, it’s the market.

“People pay it and they have to pay for certain quality. I’m quite sure the people in Manchester will be very happy; when you watch him play, you feel this is someone who sacrifices everything for the team and that’s what you want as a teammate.”

The comments speak directly to the profile that City director of football Hugo Viana has sought to build around at the Etihad Stadium this summer: a midfield presence defined not only by technical quality but by the kind of relentless, team-first mentality that underpinned City’s most successful periods under Guardiola.

Anderson’s performances for Nottingham Forest last season, which earned him a place in Tuchel’s England squad for the ongoing FIFA World Cup, drew repeated comparisons to that mould – a player whose work without the ball is as influential as his contributions with it.

What does Gundogan’s assessment tell us about Anderson’s fit at Man City?

Gundogan’s own career at the Etihad Stadium was defined by precisely the qualities he attributes to Anderson – an ability to operate selflessly within a demanding system while contributing at the highest level on both sides of the ball.

That a player of his experience and standing at the club has offered such an endorsement will do little to dampen the excitement building around incoming manager Enzo Maresca‘s first major signing as City manager, with Anderson’s arrival expected to be formally confirmed in the coming days once the administrative details of the record-breaking deal are finalised.

Whether Anderson can replicate or surpass the kind of impact Gundogan himself delivered during his time in Manchester remains to be seen – but the early verdict from one of the Etihad Stadium’s most decorated recent alumni could hardly have been more encouraging.