Premier League midfielder spotted at Wembley despite £35m Newcastle United transfer

The boy can leave Newcastle United but you can’t take Newcastle United out of the boy.

That statement rings for Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson, who was among the 32,000 Geordies at Wembley that witnessed Newcastle win the Carabao Cup and end their 70-year domestic trophy drought.

Anderson was part of the United team that lost 2-0 to Manchester United in the cup final two years ago and in his own kind of way had a part in this run too, having started for Forest against his former club in round two.

Eddie Howe’s men drew 1-1 in normal time at City Ground before advancing into the next round on penalties. They then beat AFC Wimbledon, Chelsea, Brentford and Arsenal before seeing off Liverpool in the final.

At full-time, the Whitley Bay-born midfielder was captured celebrating and gesturing towards Eddie Howe, Jason Tindall and Nick Pope. The trio spotted the 22-year-old and responded with a fist pump.

Bittersweet moment for Elliot Anderson

Anderson reluctantly left his boyhood club in the summer after Newcastle needed the £35million sale to help comply with Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR). As an academy graduate, the midfielder was sold for “pure profit”.

Discussing the sale, Howe said: “Elliot was a sale we didn’t want to make. Nobody at the football club internally wanted to make that sale but we had to.

“I think that one is a very unusual place because I think that will be happening again, not just here but at other clubs where you’re selling players for financial reasons.

“I don’t think it’s something that has really been done a lot in the history of the game unless you’re under financial restrictions where you have to sell. A club that has financial backing but has to sell because of the rules, that’s a new one.”

In a recent interview with BBC Sport, Anderson said: Yeah it was very sad. Obviously you never know you’re going to join a club and play so in my head at the time I didn’t know it was going to go the way it has. It was a really tough one to take.

“I was really settled there and I didn’t see it coming so it was a tough one to take. That’s just football and you’ve got to be prepared for any challenge that comes your way and it wasn’t to be there but I’ve come to a great club where I’ve found myself and I’m really enjoying it.”

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