Manchester United are all but out of the Elliot Anderson race, but they’re using him to reverse the stakes on two of their most embarrassing mistakes.
It was always an outside chance at best, but the latest reports surrounding Man City’s bid for Elliot Anderson put all the speculation to bed.
It’s a matter of when, and not if, Anderson joins City, and Man Utd won’t be dragged into a bidding war for a player who doesn’t want to join.
In the process, they have reversed the stakes on two of their most misguided transfers ever.
If Elliot Anderson is £125m… What is Kobbie Mainoo’s market value right now?
Not that he's going anywhere…🔒
Man Utd played Man City on Elliot Anderson
From the looks of things, it seems like United always knew they weren’t going to enter the bidding war for Anderson.
Nottingham Forest owner Marinakis is a tough negotiator, and Anderson has been propped up as the crown jewel of this transfer window.
Still, the £125m fee just made no sense from Man Utd’s perspective when they had a whole rebuild to attend to.
However, United played City like a fiddle, letting it stay in the media and in footballing circles that they are in for Anderson.
The “not giving up” reports now seem like a classic case of bait-and-switch, where United gave off the impression of staying in the race just so Forest can rinse City for all they’re worth.
Having rejected even a £121m bid, City are now all-in and can’t walk away when they’re the only one bidding for him.
United trapped them in a room with Marinakis talking crazy figures, and dipped, leaving City to pay an exorbitant amount for the player.
Ironically, this is what City have done to United two times in the past, resulting in their two biggest transfer mistakes.
Man City did it to Utd with Alexis Sanchez and Harry Maguire
The stakes have reversed because it was City who used to play United like a fiddle, feigning interest in players to drive up their price before leaving United to pay for it.
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Alexis Sanchez scored an insane contract from Utd due to City’s interest, and Leicester were emboldened on their Harry Maguire stance due to the same reason.
Sanchez flopping at United is well-known by now, but even that Maguire deal is remarkable, despite his performances since joining.
£80m for him was an overpay in its own right, but United also agreed to pay everything up front in their desperation to beat City to the punch.
That kind of structure is unheard of in the market, and led to United depleting their cash reserves, a problem they face to this day.
Something similar also happened during the deal for Fred, with City making it a habit of making it look like they were interested, just to see United get fleeced.
United would celebrate getting one over City, all the while they were getting the better players for cheaper.
Man Utd fans will hope the club pivoting to the likes of Mateus Fernandes and Alex Scott after letting City pay more than £120m for Anderson turns out the same way.
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