Elliot Anderson bizarrely doesn’t call Manchester United the biggest team ever after joining City

Elliot Anderson has weirdly not called Manchester United the biggest and best team in the city after joining their bitter rivals.

You’d think he’d have learned from Morgan Rogers’ mistake earlier this week. Fools, the pair of them.

Pedigree chum

It is quite funny that Samuel Luckhurst spent months exclusively reporting that Manchester United wanted to sign Elliot Anderson, Adam Wharton, Alex Scott, Carlos Baleba or Sandro Tonali this summer, only for them to sign two completely different Premier League midfielders never once mentioned as potential targets.

That sort of hit rate does mean Luckhurst’s latest Sun exclusive, that Manchester United want to sign Aurelien Tchouameni from Real Madrid, requires an entire vat of salt as a side dish.

But Tchouameni has been linked with a move to Old Trafford for ages, and Luckhurst is at least offering new information: Real want to sell him to fund a bid for Rodri.

This paragraph, however, does stand out:

‘Tchouameni’s age, availability and pedigree, having started the 2022 World Cup final against the Argies and won the Champions League with Real, appeals to United.’

Neither of those things are untrue. But it does seem important to point out that Tchouameni capped a poor 2022 World Cup final performance with a dreadful miss in the shoot-out defeat, and watched the entire 2024 Champions League final from the bench.

Indeed, Luckhurst can’t really dismiss Manchester City signing Anderson by writing that ‘he was found wanting against the Premier League peers Enzo Fernandez and Alexis Mac Allister in the World Cup semi-final,’ when Tchouameni struggled against those same players in the previous final.

He’s an obviously excellent player, but it isn’t difficult to imagine Luckhurst using that ‘pedigree’ to beat Tchouameni with if and when he goes from Manchester United transfer target to Manchester United flop.

Kings cross

On the subject of Anderson, the Daily Mirror website is having fun with his Manchester City move:

”Kings of Manchester’ – Elliot Anderson taunts Man Utd as City unveil £116m signing’

It is remarkable that Jeremy Cross is being trusted to report on Anderson’s unveiling quotes, considering how many knots he tied himself into this summer when reporting on his fee.

There is weirdly no mention of Anderson costing Manchester City just £65m. There is a claim that ‘Anderson snubbed Manchester United’ when Cross himself surely knows that cannot be true; he wrote that ‘Manchester United have conceded defeat to bitter rivals City in the race to sign Elliot Anderson’ in late May, so there could be no snubbing.

But what of this ‘taunt’? Anderson does say that “for as long as I’ve known Manchester, City have been the kings of Manchester,” which is an objectively hilariously constructed sentence.

Not really a ‘taunt’ though, is it? It’s a statement of fact. Anderson was 10 when Manchester United last won the Premier League title (or even just finished above Manchester City), and five when they last won the Champions League. Manchester City have won four Premier League titles, a Champions League and an absurd number of other pots just since he turned professional in late 2019, never mind in his conscious lifetime.

The “for as long as I’ve known” bit is really quite important. A footballer in 2026 probably cares more about what has happened over the last decade rather than well before they were born when picking their next club.

It was also a response to a question specifically about the Manchester derby itself, which City have won more often than not for sodding ages.

Between this and Morgan Rogers’ ‘brutal dig’ at Arsenal, perhaps this new England crop simply needs to calm down, stay in their lane and stop saying nice things about the clubs they are joining.

Flaming Ell

The same goes for…

‘Elliot Anderson aims dig at Man United after sealing £116m move to Man City as he declares: ‘I’ve joined the Kings of Manchester”’ – MailOnline.

‘Elliot Anderson seals Man City move – and takes swipe at Manchester United’ – The Independent.

‘Elliot Anderson taunts Man Utd with ‘Kings of Manchester’ jibe’ – Daily Telegraph.

‘Elliot Anderson aims dig at Man Utd after completing £116m transfer to Man City’ – Goal.com.

‘Anderson takes dig at Man Utd as he reveals why he joined City in £116m deal’ – The Sun.

‘Elliot Anderson brutally mocks Man Utd with three-word City message after £116m transfer’ – Daily Express website.

Outlets will obviously report on those quotes in this way. Mediawatch is not naive enough to think otherwise. But ‘new employee praises employers’ essentially just isn’t really news. If new City player Anderson had called United the kings of Manchester, then you’d have a story.

Rash decision

It must be a particularly savage day because Manchester United are not alone in being mugged off. Marcus Rashford is getting some too.

‘Marcus Rashford hit with another brutal snub as Barcelona sign Champions League star after £70m Anthony Gordon transfer’ – The Sun.

‘Marcus Rashford is snubbed again by Barcelona as LaLiga giants sign ANOTHER highly-rated forward after Anthony Gordon’s £70m move – leaving Man United outcast’s ‘dream’ move in tatters’- MailOnline.

If anyone still believed Rashford might be headed to Barcelona up to and until the point they signed Karim Adeyemi instead, perhaps they deserve to be brutally snubbed.

Rule’s errand

It might, however, lead to this…

‘Man Utd may have to scrap strict Arsenal transfer rule after latest Marcus Rashford blow’

And at this stage we simply must know what the ‘strict Arsenal transfer rule’ is at Manchester United. Are they banned from selling players for more than £30m? Can they only sign players from Chelsea? Does everyone have to undergo strict set-piece training first?

Over to you, Daily Mirror website. At least we think it’s this; it isn’t made particularly clear at any point:

‘The only teams who realistically have the financial power to sign Rashford are in the Premier League. The i reports that Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal have been keeping an eye on him, yet United are currently unwilling to do business with a rival in the same league.’

That’s…not a ‘strict Arsenal transfer rule’. It’s barely a transfer rule at all. Manchester United just don’t want to sell one of their players to another Premier League club.

So Man Utd may have to scrap strict Hull and Ipswich transfer rule too.

Star-gazing

But the biggest Daily Mirror website story on Arsenal is this:

‘GUNNERS RELOADED! Arsenal squad revamp gathers pace as Arteta axes three stars and immediately replaces them with new arrivals’

Christos Tzolis for Leandro Trossard you can have. Piero Hincapie for Jakub Kiwior – players who went on loan last summer and have made those moves permanent – you cannot.

And let’s not get into Karl Hein and his single Arsenal appearance (in a League Cup third-round defeat in 2022) apparently constituting club ‘star’ status.