The most expensive English transfers as Anderson joins Man City
Elliot Anderson is officially the most expensive English footballer of all time after completing his £116 million transfer to Manchester City from Nottingham Forest.
City have broken their own transfer record to sign the England midfielder, dwarfing the £100 million fee they paid Aston Villa for Jack Grealish back in 2022.
Anderson makes the move following an excellent campaign for Forest in which he demonstrated superb passing ability and a relentless work ethic while helping the club avoid relegation from the Premier League and reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League.
Nottingham Forest can confirm that an agreement has been reached with Manchester City for the transfer of Elliot Anderson.
The necessary formalities will be completed in due course, allowing Elliot’s full focus to remain on representing England at the FIFA World Cup.
The Club… pic.twitter.com/sxcWLBL4Ua
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) July 2, 2026
It was only two years ago when Forest signed Anderson for a transfer fee of £35 million from Newcastle United, which seems remarkable now. The Magpies will be regretting that sale for a long time to come.
The 23-year-old is just the fifth Englishman to cost over £100 million, the first of whom was Grealish. It took another two years before that barrier was broken again and it happened three times in the one summer.
Real Madrid paid a massive £115 million to prise Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund in June 2023, before Declan Rice joined Arsenal from West Ham United for £105 million the following month. Harry Kane then left boyhood club Tottenham Hotspur to join Bayern Munich for £100 million a month later.
Grealish is the only one of these transfers that arguably did not pay off, although he did help City win the Treble in his debut season with the club. Bellingham won the UEFA Champions League in his first season at Real and proven himself to be one of the best midfielders of his generation. Rice has been the bedrock of Arsenal’s midfield and played a key role in their Premier League title win. And Kane has scored an ungodly amount of goals since moving to Germany.
Can Anderson follow their lead and prove he is worth the record-breaking transfer fee?
Read – The number of records broken at the World Cup is already insane
The most expensive English transfers ever:
1. Elliot Anderson – Nottingham Forest to Manchester City, £116m (2026)
2. Jude Bellingham – Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid, £115m (2023)
3. Declan Rice – West Ham United to Arsenal, £105m (2023)
4. Jack Grealish – Aston Villa to Manchester City, £100m (2021)
=4. Harry Kane – Tottenham Hotspur to Bayern Munich, £100m (2023)
Read – The players to score and be red carded in a World Cup knockout match
See Also – It took Cristiano Ronaldo 20 years to score this World Cup goal
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