Manchester City are continuing with their push to sign Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest but Manchester United remain in the race for the player, according to Fabrizio Romano.

While Man City and Man United battle, the former Newcastle United midfielder is preparing to head to the World Cup with England and is expected to form a key part of Thomas Tuchel’s starting XI in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Anderson played in all 38 of Forest’s Premier League games this season and was a key part of the side that reached the Europa League semi-final.

Reports earlier this week indicated City were keen to wrap up a deal as soon as this week but transfer expert Romano has now given a fresh update on the player’s potential move to Manchester.

Man City ‘favourites’ to sign Man Utd target Elliot Anderson

In an update on his YouTube channel, Romano revealed that United are still “calling and calling” as they remain in the race for Anderson.

However, their local rivals City “have always been favourites to sign the player” with the FA Cup winners laying the groundwork for the deal in the last few months.

Romano said: “Manchester City are still pushing and I told you in March they have always been favourites to sign Elliot Anderson. They remain on it. They already made some approaches because they want to offer a really important contract to the player, so Man City believe they can really tempt EIliot Anderson.”

City won the FA Cup and Carabao Cup in Pep Guardiola’s final season at the club but ended the campaign seven points behind Premier League winners Arsenal while they were dumped out of the Champions League by Real Madrid, losing 5-1 on aggregate to the Spanish giants.

They are now out to strengthen their squad with Enzo Maresca expected to take charge of the club.

Elliot Anderson could be ready-made replacement for Rodri

Recent reports in Spain have indicated Real Madrid are keen to sign Rodri, with the La Liga outfit eager to capitalise on Guardiola’s exit from the Etihad Stadium.

Anderson could be the perfect replacement for City if Rodri was to make the move to Spain. At 23-years-old, Anderson still has his best years ahead of him and already has a similar profile to Rodri.

According to statistics from Data MB, Anderson outshines Rodri when it comes to winning possession, while Rodri has a better duel success rate.

The pair are very closely matched in terms of key passes, progressive passes and ball carrying and with Anderson doing a lot of hard defensive yards for Forest, City will be encouraged by the amount of work he does going forward.

It has been widely reported that Anderson is expected to cost more than £100million with the likes of Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo moving between Premier League clubs for a similar amount in recent years.

Ronald Koeman has named his final 26-man Netherlands squad for the 2026 summer World Cup, with Virgil van Dijk headlining.

Netherlands, who are yet to win the World Cup despite finishing runner-up on three occasions, have been placed in Group F for this summer’s tournament.

They will open up their campaign on June 14 when they face Japan at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. They will face Sweden four days later in Houston before concluding their group stage with a clash against Tunisia in Kansas City.

Oranje will fancy their chances of becoming world champions for the first time this summer and, when you look at their squad, they certainly have a chance.

Goalkeepers

Koeman has chosen three goalkeepers with Premier League experience. Mark Flekken was Brentford’s starting goalkeeper for two seasons before departing for Bayer Leverkusen this summer.

He has been named in the squad alongside Robin Roefs, who enjoyed a fine debut season in England’s top tier with Sunderland, and Brighton and Hove Albion’s Bart Verbruggen. The latter has already picked up 27 caps for his country and is expected to be their starter this summer.

Defenders

Netherlands’ strength is arguably their defence. Van Dijk is regarded as one of the best centre-backs in Premier League history and will be determined to lead his country to success. It will likely be his last attempt at World Cup glory.

Man City defender Nathan Ake features in the squad, as does Arsenal’s Jurrien Timber, Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven and Brighton & Hove Albion duo Jan Paul van Hecke and Mats Wieffer.

Denzel Dumfries is a menace going forward and features, while there’s also a spot for Chelsea’s talented youngster Jorrel Hato.

There’s no place for Manchester United’s Matthijs de Ligt. The 26-year-old, who has been capped 52 times by his country, has not played since November due to a back injury. Liverpool’s Jeremie Frimpong also misses out.

Midfielders

Frenkie De Jong was pivotal in Barcelona’s La Liga triumph this season. He is expected to start in the middle of midfield for the Netherlands this summer, alongside Man City’s Tijjani Reijnders and Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch.

Two midfielders from Serie A feature in Oranje’s squad: Juventus’ Teun Koopmeiners and Atalanta’s Marten De Roon. There’s also a place for Quinten Timber, twin brother of Jurrien, and PSV star Guus Til.

Xavi Simons misses out after rupturing his ACL against Wolves in late April.

Forwards

While Netherlands are stacked in defence and midfield, they don’t quite have the same strength of depth going forward. Still, they have enough attacking quality to fire them to glory this summer.

Netherlands’ all-time top goal scorer, Memphis Depay, has been given a place in the squad. The 32-year-old, who now plays in Brazil with Corinthians, has hit the back of the net 55 times for his country.

Gakpo will no doubt start for his side this summer, if fully fit. He has an impressive strike record of 19 goals in 48 international games.

There’s also a place in the squad for Sunderland’s Brian Brobbey, West Ham’s Crysencio Summerville, Bournemouth’s Justin Kluivert, Ajax’s Wout Weghorst, Roma’s Donyell Malen and Galatasaray’s Noa Lang.

Details have emerged of WWE‘s bizarre plan to relaunch the infamous New World Order faction, and it was so outlandish that even founding member Kevin Nash was forced to take to social media to address it.

The COVID-19 pandemic gave WWE fans the Boneyard Match and a frightful fourth wall-breaking journey into the Firefly Fun House. But it also nearly gave them an equally scary recreation of the iconic nWo.

Former WWE writer Chris Dunn recently appeared on the Public Enemies podcast to discuss his tenure at the company. His interview included a tale from the creative wilderness of the COVID years.

One pitch that stood out like a sore thumb was the revival of the nWo, which was to be spearheaded by a number of the company’s international Superstars.

WWE’s Controversial Plans to Relaunch the nWo Revealed

WWE

Alongside Hulk Hogan and Scott Hall, Nash founded the cult faction in 1996, dominating WCW for a number of years. The faction would eventually expand considerably in numbers, with the likes of “Macho Man” Randy Savage and The Giant [The Big Show] bolstering the ranks.

Following a split into several subgroups at the end of the 1990s, the group fizzled out prior to WWE’s acquirement of the promotion in 2001. The original trio briefly reunited in WWE in 2002.

Dunn revealed that there was an initial plan to revive the New World Order with Sheamus, Shinsuke Nakamura, Cesaro aka Claudio Castagnoli, and Lars Sullivan. The faction was one of many outrageous pitches made during the pandemic era, which was a notoriously tough period for the company.

Credit: WWE

With the greatest of respect to Sheamus, Nakamura and Cesaro, they hardly possess the generational star power of Hogan, Hall and Nash. Lars Sullivan’s WWE main roster run, meanwhile, was notoriously underwhelming. He retired from professional wrestling altogether in late 2021.

However, as Dunn revealed, the storyline was being seriously considered and very nearly came to fruition. The company had even gone as far as to recruit an nWo original for the new group’s inception. “So it was really close to happening. I forget which legendary nWo member was supposed to fly to Orlando to introduce this new nWo. It wasn’t X-Pac,” revealed Dunn. “Essentially, they landed, and they didn’t pass the COVID test, so they couldn’t do it.”

Kevin Nash Reacts to WWE’s Scrapped nWo Plans

Following on from the podcast revelation, Nash delivered his two cents on the proposed revival. Posting on X, Nash wrote: “Never heard anything about it. Scott and @TheRealXPac and myself were out almost every weekend together. So it definitely wasn’t one of us.”

The “legendary nWo member” could feasibly have been Hulk Hogan, although the iconic Superstar never mentioned the idea prior to his untimely passing last year.

Referring to WWE’s initial attempt to relaunch the faction with himself, Hogan and Hall in 2002, Nash joked:

Given the seismic impact that the nWo had on professional wrestling, it is unlikely that WWE’s awkward reboot would have lived up to original legacy. That it didn’t happen is likely a blessing for all concerned.