Fresh clip emerges of £35m midfielder after Newcastle United meeting & transfer decision
As Newcastle United staff and players stood in front of the travelling fans at full-time to celebrate their penalty shootout win at Nottingham Forest, Elliot Anderson couldn’t help but glance over.
The Whitley Bay-born midfielder came up against his boyhood for the first time since completing his £35million move to the City Ground. It was a departure Newcastle - and probably Anderson - didn’t want, but such is unfair nature of Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
“Watching their game in preparation for this… it was good to see Elliot play so well against Southampton,” said United boss Eddie Howe on Tuesday. “I thought he was excellent and really contributed to their winning performance in midfield, showed his versatility and thought he did really well.
“But it was tinged with sadness for me because we’ve lost an outstanding player and person from the group. We wish him well but, of course, we’ll be competing against him in this game.”
The 21-year-old was named in the Reds’ starting XI and will have impressed his new fans. He nearly so brilliantly made his mark against his former side with a chipped effort that just fell wide of Nick Pope’s goal at 1-1. There were other flashes of quality too.
But Anderson was also shown the love from Newcastle, which may come as no surprise given he and Yankuba Minteh essentially saved the club from a points deduction. Midway through the first-half, those in the away end chanted ‘Geordie Maradona’, and when he was replaced in the 79th minute, all four corners of the stadium stood to applaud him.
As it went, Newcastle won 4-3 on penalties after Ibrahim Sangare and Taiwo Awoniyi missed their spot-kicks. United players celebrated with each other first before making their way over to the sold-out away.
And there is a clip of Anderson looking over to his former teammates and supporters, and you do wonder what the midfielder was thinking in that moment. Fifty-five appearances he made his boyhood club and it should have been more.
“PSR - destroyer of club identity,” one fan wrote. “A local lad reluctantly sold to satisfy rules brought in to protect elite clubs. The most profitable sales will always be ‘one of our owns’. PSR will be the end for local players playing for their hometown clubs.”
It’s hard to argue otherwise.