The question that hangs over Elliot Anderson and the £100m-midfielder movement

Elliot Anderson may have cost Manchester City considerably months before they agreed to make him the most expensive British footballer ever . When he last played at the Etihad Stadium, in March, he let fly from 25 yards. A crisp, clean strike earned Nottingham Forest an unexpected point . Perhaps City would not have won the title anyway, but the loss of two gave them less leeway in the run-in. Now Anderson forms a £116m statement of intent in their bid to regain their crown and begin Enzo Maresca’s reign as the Premier League’s greatest force. The World Cup has illustrated some of the reasons to buy him, beyond simply getting one of Manchester United’s transfer targets. Anderson has the passing range, over both short and long distances, the athleticism to cover ground, the ability to operate as both a No 6 and a No 8. In a tournament when few England players beyond Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham have excelled, he has. Elliot Anderson is heading to Man City (PA) But while the fee is in keeping with the current midfield market, it is astonishing nonetheless. City are huge spenders in one respect, but not another. Their previous club record buy – Jack Grealish, for £100m that really was not well spent at all – was an outlier. Nearly all of their outstanding pieces of business in Pep Guardiola’s decade in charge came for between £30m and £65m. Rayan Cherki, last summer, was near the bottom of that scale, even Erling Haaland not at the top. Guardiola’s preferred midfield axis in his valedictory season consisted of two of his greatest buys, Rodri and Bernardo Silva. Their combined cost was less than Anderson’s, even though the Spaniard was a club record purchase when he joined. Anderson is a history-maker in one respect. In another, he could have company. There will be at least five £100m men in Premier League midfields next season, unless Enzo Fernandez gets his wish of a move to Real Madrid: Sandro Tonali is going to Tottenham for £100m , Fernandez and Moises Caicedo had a combined cost rising to £222m for Chelsea and Arsenal had to fork out £105m for Declan Rice, who is now one of two £100m men in Thomas Tuchel’s midfield. After the likes of Enzo Fernandez (right) and Moises Caicedo (left) racked up combined fees of £222m... (Getty) ...Sandro Tonali’s transfer to Tottenham will also break the £100m barrier (Getty) The chorus from the Gunners fans has been that “we got him half price”. And if not true, it is nevertheless the case that, so far, only Rice of the midfielders who came at a ground-breaking cost has succeeded. The driving force in Arsenal’s first Premier League triumph in 22 years , a man who powered them to a Champions League final , a talisman and a great all-rounder, Rice has been a game-changer of a buy. Caicedo and Fernandez? Not so much. The Ecuadorian has arguably been the better signing. The Argentinian got 15 goals last season. It was still a wretched year for Chelsea who have only had one decent season, and no title challenge, in the four in which Fernandez has featured. An argument to spend big on midfielders is that they can influence every element of the game and make a team tick. Yet it is not supported by the case studies. Mateus Fernandes, relegated in consecutive seasons, has gone to Tottenham for £85m . The Portuguese played well for first Southampton and then West Ham; the sides still got poor results. Fernandes has played 72 Premier League games, scored five goals and assisted eight. Which, again, conforms to a theme. The massive numbers surround the cost of the new breed of midfielders, not their goal returns. Five of Fernandez’s goals last year were penalties, only 10 in the Premier League. After Anderson’s terrific strike against City, a former Forest player of an early generation reflected that he really should score more. He is not the complete package yet. It invites the question of what their predecessors, players like Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, would be worth today. The theory may be that, to construct an elite team now, there is a requirement for press-resistant passers who can follow tactical instructions. They still need someone to put the ball in the net and the evolution away from goalscoring box-to-box midfielders mean the duties tend to fall to strikers, wingers or No 10s. How much would Steven Gerrard (left) and Frank Lampard (right) cost today? (Getty Images) None of which has stopped the midfield market inflating faster than others. Tonali’s move to Spurs is notable: Serie A clubs like the Italy international but cannot compete with the financial muscle of Tottenham, fresh from their latest 17th-place finish . It makes it harder to go to Italy: Inter’s £21m offer for Curtis Jones was rebuffed by Liverpool, conscious of Premier League prices and wanting twice as much. Those rising prices could impact on virtually everyone. United are getting Ederson from Atalanta relatively cheaply at about £35m; yet after missing out on Anderson and Fernandes, they face a hefty bill to rebuild the rest of their midfield. There may be a correction to the market, but it feels unlikely. Almost half a century ago, Anderson’s predecessor was Steve Daley, who left a Midlands club – Wolves, in his case – for City for a British record fee, of £1.437m. It was soon recognised as a crazy fee; prices came down. That has not happened in the latest midfield gold rush. Chelsea distorted the price range by going as big as they did for first Fernandez and then Caicedo, paying some way over the odds for each, but setting a new marker. Now any selling club can ask for a nine-figure sum. Newcastle and Forest are getting them. Perhaps Bournemouth and Crystal Palace will when Alex Scott and Adam Wharton leave. They can thank Chelsea, but once again, football has reasons to blame Todd Boehly .