Elliot Anderson secret contract clause revealed

Manchester United’s midfield uncertainty remains a hot topic around the club despite improved results in the first half of the English Premier League season.

The midfield has demonstrated itself to be a standout weak point in United’s defensive and build-up play under manager Ruben Amorim. With questions asked of Casemiro’s future at the club and the likes of Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte struggling to find a stable footing in the starting 11, a change to United’s midfield personnel looks to be a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’.

The likes of Adam Wharton, Carlos Baleba and Angelo Stiller have emerged as potential candidates for United’s new midfield look. However, another player who continues to find himself linked to the Red Devils is Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson.

Having raised eyebrows during Nottingham Forest’s impressive 2024/25 Premier League campaign, Anderson has continued his standout form amid his team’s comparatively bleak start to the current season.

With speculation around Anderson’s potentially astronomical price tag, it is unclear if United would be interested in making a move for the England international in January or if the club would prefer to wait for a potential drop in price next summer.

Speaking in an interview with TalkSport, Ben Jacobs has weighed in on Anderson’s current contract situation at Forest and how this may affect a potential move to Manchester United. Jacobs claims that ‘Anderson might be available after the World Cup, based on a complicated variable provision within his contract, for much less than this £120 million ballpark that is being suggested’.

While Jacobs emphasises that the matter is ‘complicated’, he adds that it could be helped by the contrasting league positions of the two clubs. He suggests that Anderson could be available for less than the ‘ballpark 120 million price tag’ if ‘Nottingham Forest were to somehow get sucked into a relegation battle and go down’ or ‘if they (Forest) stay in the Premier League and Manchester United get Champions League football’.

Although there is still much of the season left to play, this claim will come as encouragement for those both in and around the club who believe that Elliot Anderson could be the man to lift United’s midfield off the ground in the Ruben Amorim Era.

If these provisions in Elliot Anderson’s contract should prove true, then the contrasting fortunes of the two clubs so far this season could be the ticket to swaying the midfielder towards a move to Manchester in the summer for a bargain price.