Manchester United are potentially going to be impacted by Manchester City deciding to break the bank for Elliot Anderson.
In one of the most over priced deals of the summer, Elliot Anderson looks to set to join City for around the £130m mark.
Manchester United moved on from Anderson a while ago, with the finances involved both the transfer fee and the £300,000-a-week wages being outside of what the club are willing to spend.
United are focused on Mateus Fernandes, with Alex Scott and others considered as fall-back options. But City’s big spending will have a ripple effect on the midfield market.
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How Elliot Anderson’s fee impacts Manchester United
As with anything, the market value can be dictated by other events and with Anderson’s price set, other clubs will be taking notes if they are to sell their own players of similar quality.
United in Focus’ head of football finance and governance Adam Williams explains how this could cost United.
“Whether you’re looking at a car, a bag of sweets or a footballer, you have to consider a huge range of factors when valuing something. As well as the costs of production, scarcity, demand, risk and uncertainty, you also look at market rates, i.e., what have other buyers of similar products or assets been prepared to pay on the open market in recent times.
“The clearest example in football is Neymar’s move to PSG in 2017. That doubled the previous world record and permanently inflated the transfer market as a result. In fact, many highly credible voices in football allege that PSG actually deliberately overpaid in order to inflate the market because it meant they instantly became one of the only clubs in the world who could actually afford the very best talent. I subscribe to that view – it’s a common tactic in big business, so why wouldn’t a state-backed club like PSG do the same in football?
“With Anderson, it’s not as seismic a deal as Neymar’s, but you can follow similar logic. If and when Crystal Palace come to sell Adam Wharton, for example, they will point to Anderson as a benchmark. So I do think it’s very plausible that United will be confronted with this deal in negotiations for Fernandes, Scott or Tonali. It’s not going to move mountains in terms of the extra money it costs them, nor is it really possible to precisely quantify the inflationary effect of the Anderson deal. But it is, however, part of a wider picture of excess in the Premier League which undoubtedly does raise prices across the board.
“The same logic applies with wage structures. For my money, Alexis Sanchez moving to Man United was the worst signing in Premier League history because of what it did to the club’s wage structure. It emboldened other players to ask for far more than they were worth. United are still dealing with consequences of that; it’s why Ratcliffe has put so much energy into re-basing the squad and getting costs under control.
“United need to be ultra-disciplined in negotiations for a midfielder because it’s not just the one-off cost that you have to take on – it’s the impact it has on future transfer and wage negotiations too. They need to shake off the reputation they’ve got for overpaying because, in poker terms, they have historically been what you would call a ‘whale’.”
United will be doubly keen to avoid paying over the odds, because it means further signings this summer will be made more difficult. But this can’t be an excuse, because United should have made moves sooner.
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United think Anderson will kick-start the market
Despite an anticipated midfield merry-go-round this summer, it has all been rather quiet so far.
But now Chris Wheeler has told Stretford Paddock that United actually think the Anderson sale will hasten the market along.
“I think the feeling at Man United is that the Anderson thing might need to happen first, that will set the mark, you know, in terms of the price structure for everybody else, and it will knock on through.
“And of course, once he goes, of course, Forest will need somebody. And so that will almost kickstart the market.”
This is true to an extent, but United shouldn’t have been waiting for another club to move to start their business. Now, any marquee midfield signing will be more expensive and harder to complete with the precedent set.
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