August 17, 2025, the first Sunday of last season, provided a glimpse of what to expect from Elliot Anderson.He was heavily involved in everything Nottingham Forest did in a 3-1 win over Brentford, as seen in his match dashboard.His assist (the yellow arrow above) was the product of some of his best qualities.In the lead-up to it, Anderson is defending the midfield zone, and as Brentford pass back, he shifts to his left to mark Antoni Milambo.But when Brentford misplace a pass in midfield, Anderson is alert to intercept.The awareness and athleticism are followed up by an instinctive first-time through-ball that catches everyone out but striker Chris Wood. The weight of the pass is perfect, and it curves perfectly into Wood’s path. He has a running start and scores.Anderson’s performance set the tone for a brilliant season that saw him develop into one of the Premier League’s best midfielders and earn a place in England’s World Cup squad. “He is a very complete and mobile midfielder, an elite player with the right attitude and a lot of talent,” head coach Thomas Tuchel said, as reported by BBC Sport.There could be a further reward too, in the form of a big summer move. On Wednesday, The Athletic reported that Forest had rejected an offer from Manchester City.Anderson offers the kind of two-way qualities that are increasingly valuable in a more direct and transitional Premier League. “I bring a lot of energy and cover a lot of ground,” he said in an interview with Sky Sports in May. “I just want to be quite involved with the game, get the ball moving or break up play and things like that.”The midfielder was indispensable for Forest in a campaign where they hired four different managers, playing 97 per cent of their league minutes. No player across Europe’s five leagues had a higher share of their team’s touches or passes, and as the table below shows, he was also responsible for a large proportion of their chances created, line-breaking passes and recoveries.MetricPercentage of team totalTouches14%Passes15%Chances created16%Line-breaking passes20%Recoveries19%For good measure, Anderson also delivered 21 per cent of their crosses. His set pieces were excellent, and only Pascal Gross (2.8) averaged more open-play crosses than his 2.0 per 90.The best examples of his ability from out wide came in Forest’s 3-2 defeat at Manchester United, another team who are interested in Anderson, in May. Having sent a flat cross to Morato’s head for the first goal, he whips in a low ball to Morgan Gibbs-White for their second.Much of the damage Anderson did in 2025-26 came from these areas. He often dropped to the sides of Murillo or Nikola Milenkovic while the full-backs pushed forward. This dragged out the opposition shape and allowed Gibbs-White, Ibrahim Sangare, and Nicolas Dominguez to operate with more freedom.