Paul Scholes used a morning sports programme to tell Manchester United they should sign Elliot Anderson and pair him with Kobbie Mainoo in midfield next season.
Scholes did not soften his view. "I admired him [Elliot Anderson] when he was still playing for Newcastle," he said, and later added: "I would be very satisfied if the midfield next season could be Anderson paired with Mainoo."
The plea carries concrete urgency. United are set to need a new midfielder because Casemiro will depart the club at the end of the season, and Scholes warned his old club they must "strengthen one or two midfielders this summer, and cannot just bring in Anderson alone." Anderson is a 23-year-old who helped confirm his team’s survival by scoring one late equaliser on Sunday, and reports have suggested Forest could demand a fee in the region of £100m.
That price tag and the timing matter now because attention is already crowded. Both Manchester City and Manchester United are understood to be interested in Anderson, with local reports naming City as the current frontrunners. If Forest’s Premier League survival removed the prospect of a cut-price sale, United will need to choose whether to chase Anderson while also filling the gap left by Casemiro.
Scholes framed the discussion not as a single signing but a plan. "But my view is that Man United needs to strengthen one or two midfielders this summer, and cannot just bring in Anderson alone," he said on air, underlining that one marquee arrival will not solve the squad’s structural shortfall.
Forest’s head coach added to the complication by refusing to confirm Anderson’s future outright. "I cannot say (whether he will stay), I don’t have the answer. I know he deserves the top of the world," Vitor Pereira said. He also insisted: "I know that he’s our player, and we need to enjoy him because I have worked with the top talent players, but to find a top player with this character is not easy." The manager’s reluctance to rule out a sale keeps bargaining leverage with the club that owns Anderson.
The numbers and voices line up against a simple outcome. A 23-year-old with recent decisive contributions, a reported asking price around £100m, and interest from a domestic rival all make a quick, quiet transfer unlikely. Scholes’s recommendation — Anderson alongside Mainoo — is specific, but he coupled it with the practical caveat that United must do more than buy one name and call it a day.
United now face a squeeze: meet the reported market and secure Anderson while also recruiting at least one more midfielder to replace Casemiro, or risk allowing a rival to strengthen while leaving their own midfield short. That choice, not a distant possibility, is the club’s immediate task as the summer window approaches.
