Nottingham Forest fans comments on losing Anthony Elanga to Newcastle United – Intriguing | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest fans have been reacting to Monday night’s news that Newcastle United have reached agreement with Forest to buy Anthony Elanga.

David Ornstein of The Athletic stating that the deal is for a guaranteed £52m, plus another £3m in unlikely to be achieved add-ons.

Eddie Howe finally get his man, almost a year since the first offer went in back in August 2024.

Always most informative in these situations to have a look at what (in this case) Nottingham Forest fans are having to say in reaction to losing Anthony Elanga to Newcastle United.

As you can see below, a very varied range of views from Nottingham Forest fans. However, one theme that does run through pretty much all comments is that the Forest fans rate Anthony Elanga for sure.

Nottingham Forest fans commenting via their LTLF message board on Newcastle United having reached agreement to buy Anthony Elanga:

‘What I will say is Newcastle’s midfield and front 3 is an absolutely terrifying prospect.

Joelinton Guimares Tonali

Gordon Isak Elanga

Not many better than that in the prem. Liverpool and Man City, and that’s about it.’

‘I agree. They’re now genuine PL challengers.’

‘I absolutely agree re: their midfield (and Isak of course, but are they keeping him?) and their manager is also very likeable and has done great work. They aren’t a Liverpool or Man City yet though and, with all that taken into consideration, they still finished 1 point higher than us and it could easily have been the other way around. If EM is as ambitious as he sounds, they should be considered rivals or at least close to our level, and we should think twice about selling big players to them.

I do trust our recruitment team however, and Nuno of course. Since they let him go and felt the price was right, they’ll know how to proceed and it’s still early in the window. Looking forward to see what they have in store.’

‘I hate to see Elanga go, and I hate to see any player go to the Barcodes.’

‘I’m not sure I can see him improving significantly, especially not as a winger. Maybe if he starts playing further up top, through the middle and he scores more goals.

I think they got him cheap if it was around £50m, but I do have a feeling that is the Newcastle version of events. It’s probably nearer £60m. Can you see him improving significantly on that figure? Inflation aside.

There are players like Elanga out there, he’s proven it over two seasons now in the premier league which is why he cost £60m, we now need to pluck the next one. We could potentially get a more established one and a younger one for the same money. I trust the recruitment to do it.

One thing about Elanga though is his brilliant professionalism and drive to succeed. He’s made the most of his ability so far, proved United wrong and got a move to a big English club in the champions league.’

‘We’ll miss him a lot and there’s no point trying to sugarcoat the loss. But we knew when we missed out on the CL that one of our 3 best assets would be sold. I thought it would be MGW but presumably now we’re keeping him and Murillo.’

‘I’ll judge whether this is a good decision or not based on who comes in to replace him.

Nobody can convince me £52m is a fair price for him though. Homegrown player technically, young, 3 years left on his deal…we’ve had our pants pulled down unfortunately and frankly I’m a bit surprised that the club has allowed it. In the past we’ve always driven a hard bargain and got maximum value.

It’s a good job Man City didn’t come in for Gibbs-White as we’d have probably let him go for £30m’

‘Two years ago Tony was a back up player for a ‘top 6’ side.

We bought him for a decent price, polished him up, improved his game and now we sell him for a massive profit (final figure to be ignored in my opinion with obvious shenanigans at play with Newcastle)

Isn’t this what we’ve all been pining for as a business model?

It’s a a little gutting but there are loads of untapped Tonys out there.

We go again.

Over to you recruitment to carry in the great work.’

‘I’ve not been pining for this as a business model.

I was pining for having a rocket propelled forward who is the first name other people say when they find out I’m a Forest fan. In the gym, Dubai, USA, Iceland, Norway to name a few in the last year.

And he’s gone.’

‘That’s the trouble with overseas fans, they don’t see the all games all the time.

If they did they’d be asking you about Elliott Anderson instead.

It’s pretty obvious last years transfer of him and this years transfer or Elanga are intertwined with PSR etc…..and we’ve ended up with the better player and some cash.

Nobody likes the current rules with PSR but it’s here and we have to play along.

Be positive my friend.’

‘They aren’t overseas fans in the gym. Elanga was our best (was) known player for a reason.’

‘Good luck to Elanga, probably just tripled his wages or somewhere near that. Thought we might of got a bit more dosh for him though. But we absolutely stole Elliot Anderson so all good.’

‘If we’d have made the Champions league, I think we’d have been in a much stronger position to keep or demand more money.

All goes back to Jan really. A smart, 20m investment there could see us in the CL, hanging on to better players or selling for more, whilst building our brand and fanbase even better via the CL.

Fine margins.’

‘I would suggest they are quite the step up currently. A more established prem side with champs league footy twice in three years, plus a trophy to boot.

Would bite you hand off for their central midfielders and they currently have one of the best strikers in the world on the books…..

Though, out of our best players Elanga would of been the one I would of let go.’

‘I’ve loved watching Elanga, especially this season, but I think Newcastle fans will be surprised by how raw he is. He’s very inconsistent in most parts of his game – his finishing can be perfect or awful depending on the day, and he can either beat his man for fun or struggle all game. His decision-making can be poor, too. He was benched and derided by fans for periods this season, but also had an incredible purple patch.

He looked good in our squad but for those used to watching genuinely world-class players like Isak, Tonali and Bruno G, Elanga is simply not in that bracket.’

‘Pretty much.

I still think anything around 50m is a better deal for Newcastle than us, not awful by any means, but considering his age and pedigree I’d have like a bit more myself.

That said, Elanga’s inconstancy definitely showed last year. We’ve now sold Johnno & Elanga who are similar players, both who needed more time to grow too. Let’s hope whoever replaces Elanga is consistent and we hang on to them now.

“Business model” I get, but I want to make the CL this year now or win a cup. Near-misses are ultimately failure, and Steve Cooper remains the only manager in recent history to have actually won something.’

‘Decent transfer. We may not have needed to sell Elanga, but if this means we don’t have PSR issues for a while, why not get ahead of the game when an massive offer comes in? I’d rather lose Elanga than Murrillo, MGW, Anderson.

I mean it was only a year ago that Newcastle had to sell Anderson for a very, very low price… we don’t want to be in that position. sell high, reinvest, build, move on.’

‘Ouch – can you imagine if we had to sell Elanga for £35 million to avoid a points deduction.

Doesn’t bear thinking about.’

‘I’d be knocking on Man United’s door again for Garnacho with some of the Elanga cash – not a direct replacement but would add so much to our squad given he can play either side and off the target.’

‘If only for a bargain price: I’ve read that Man U want £60 million for him.

Man U wanting £60 million and getting are two different things.’

‘The only thing that I’m miffed about is that it’s Newcastle. OK, they’re quite a bit ahead of us in the establishment, but not THAT much. I mean, if we had scored 2 more bloody goals/ taken 2 more bloody points and finished in the UCL places, would he have stayed? It’s not one of the flashy teams, and they might also lose their no1 asset this summer. Is that considered a move up for him, or just sideways?’

‘It’s the facts though that at this stage we aren’t an established PL club really let alone an established side qualifying for Europe, so we will always have to sell to rebuild. Only the likes of Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Man Utd really are at the stage where they won’t have to sell to buy, and possibly Man Utd are at an end in that group, Newcastle and Villa are the next top sides and they are not there yet, if Liverpool or Arsenal or someone else decide they want Isak he will be off.

As for Elanga several people have mentioned he cost us 15m of the Johnson money and we have got over 50 after 2 years, shows we have added value to the player, and this will help us attract other players in that we can give them a platform to show what they can do and if they work out then they will get a big move to another club after a few years, there is progression and a stepping stone to join Forest, in the meantime we do this to enough players and then the club benefits to the point they are joining a club where they don’t need to be a stepping stone because they are in Europe…’