Anthony Elanga – Interesting comments as Newcastle United look set to land Forest star | OneFootball

It’s been interesting to read the varying opinions on The Mag, regarding Newcastle United seemingly set to sign Nottingham Forest’s Anthony Elanga.

Thursday night bringing news of a new improved bid, with Forest and Newcastle reported to be ‘on the verge’ of reaching agreement on the deal.

It has been well documented that one of Eddie Howe’s priorities was to bring in a right sided forward/winger.

Anthony Elanga, in my opinion, is a bit of a throwback to some of the wingers of yesteryear.

He likes to gather the ball and carry it, sometimes beating players to create chances. What he has in abundance, that some of the wingers of old didn’t have, is immense pace.

I’m going to look back at some of the best wingers I have seen.

Stewart Barrowclough was the first great right winger I saw. Competitive and quick, Stewie read the game well and could turn defence into attack in an instant.

The next brilliant winger I saw at Gallowgate was Chris Waddle. Tall and gangly but incredibly skilful and deceptive, the Waddler was a pleasure to watch in the early to mid 1980s.

We would have to wait a decade for someone as good as Waddle to pull on the black and white stripes, and that man was David Ginola.

But I also want to go a bit further back and look at who other clubs had.

Keith Weller had been good at Spurs and Chelsea before he became a legend for Leicester City. Weller also represented England four times in the mid 1970s.

Manchester United had two canny wingers in the 70s too. Steve Coppell and Gordon Hill were part of Tommy Docherty’s young team, and both went on to play for England.

One of my favourite footballers was West Ham’s Alan Devonshire. He was calm, skilful and precise, and grafted his gonads off. Alan was capped for England by Ron Greenwood.

Aston Villa had their own flying winger and England International in Tony Morley. He was instrumental in Villa winning the First Division title in 1981 and the European Cup a year later.

Tottenham Hotspur had a clever and unorthodox winger in Tony Galvin. Galvin was an integral part of Keith Burkinshaw’s side featuring Hoddle, Ardiles and Villa, that won back to back FA Cups in 1981 and 82.

I consider this next man as arguably the best ever seen on these Isles. John Robertson of Nottingham Forest had the lot, including a little paunch.

They said he lacked pace, but defenders still couldn’t tie him down or catch him. Robertson was a master with the ball at his feet, persistently tantalising the opposition whilst carrying the ball forward.

In my eyes. he was the main reason Cloughie’s Forest won their two European Cups.

John Robertson turned his marker inside out, before delivering the perfect cross for Trevor Francis to nod home their winner against Malmo in 1979 (it should also be noted that Frankie Clark was Robbo’s back up at left-back).

A year later and it was Robertson himself who would score the only goal in the Final, against Kevin Keegan’s Hamburg.

So the Nottingham Forest connection leads me back to the present and Anthony Elanga. For starters, he is nowhere near as good at the minute as many of the aforementioned players.

He probably won’t ever be, but in years to come, he can be just as effective. Anthony Elanga is still pretty young and raw, although he cut his teeth at Man Utd. I reckon Wor Eddie would turn him into a much better player if we are to sign him, and the eventual results could be startling.

I believe he has the hunger and a certain dynamism in his system, and as I’ve already mentioned, that incredible pace. He’ll get the old jacksies off the seats in the East Stand no problem.