The Bargain Japan International Man United Could Sign Instead Of Paying £100m For Anderson: He Has Identical Stats!

BACK Dylan Oakley Nov 19th 2025 Man United could sign an Eredivisie midfielder for under £10m instead of Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson for over £100m.  The Red Devils will head into the January transfer window with a holding midfielder in mind, as they want someone to replace Casemiro with in the long term, and someone who can play alongside Bruno Fernandes. Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson is one of several key targets for United; however, he is expected to cost at least £100m, and considering that United spent over £170m in the summer, they would rather not splash some more. Brighton’s Carlos Baleba is also a reported target, but, much like Anderson, the 21-year-old is expected to cost over £100m too, so United will surely have to consider alternative targets instead, and cheaper ones at that for January. Man United could sign Eredivisie star instead When considering the sort of player that Anderson is, Man United need a player who is good on the ball, reliable, accurate on passes, and also fantastic at winning the ball back. There is a player in the Eredivisie who matches up point for point with Anderson’s stats, and he could be available for less than £10m. We ran Anderson’s stats this season through Data MB’s Player comparison tool, and it suggested a similar player would be NEC midfielder Kodai Sano. The 22-year-old Japan international has better ball-winning stats, and almost identical passing, and dribbling stats as Anderson. He has been at NEC since 2023, when he joined from Japanese side Fagiano Okayama. Since then, the 22-year-old has made 71 appearances, scoring 10 goals, and providing six assists. He has a market value of around £5m, and so could be available for less than £10m in January, and could turn into as good a player, if not better than Anderson at Forest. These are the sort of shrewd transfer decisions that Man United will need to make if they are to avoid PSR concerns, and keep wage bills down, as they currently pay the second-highest wages in the Premier League. Click here to see Man United’s full first team squad.