Paul Scholes fears Man City could beat Man Utd to £100m transfer target

Paul Scholes has named Elliot Anderson as a midfielder who would fit the bill at Old Trafford – but is concerned Manchester City could beat Manchester United to a transfer deal for the Nottingham Forest star.

United’s hierarchy have identified central midfield as their primary focus heading into the summer transfer window, with Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko having come in to bolster the attack last year.

Casemiro’s decision to move on at the end of the season will only have intensified United search for reinforcements in the centre of the pitch, and a host of high-profile names have been linked as supposed targets.

Brighton confirmed last summer that the Red Devils had made an initial approach for Carlos Baleba, only to drop their interest again when informed the Cameroon international would not be sold.

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In the intervening months, the likes of Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes, Aurelien Tchouameni and Adam Wharton have been mooted as possible options for the engine room, with the promise of Champions League football likely to be used as a bargaining chip during transfer negotiations.

Whoever does arrive through the doors at the Theatre of Dreams will have the opportunity to pick the brains of one of the great Premier League midfielders in Michael Carrick, who has reportedly agreed a two-year contract to continue as head coach.

Carrick’s long-time partner in crime, Scholes, knows more than anyone what it takes to succeed as a midfielder at United having lifted 25 pieces of silverware over the course of his illustrious Old Trafford career.

According to Scholes, there are three ‘realistic’ solutions for his former club in central midfield, but he ‘has a feeling’ Manchester City could scupper their chances of signing Anderson.

On the ‘realistic’ midfielders United could sign, Scholes told The Good, The Bad & The Football: ‘There’s three: Adam Wharton, Sandro Tonali and Elliot Anderson.

‘The only thing I think about Elliot Anderson, I’ve got a feeling Manchester City might go for him.

‘Obviously City are going to be losing Bernardo Silva as well.’

Scholes’ comments were made before reports broke on Monday night that Pep Guardiola had decided to bring his decade-long stay with Manchester City to a close in the summer.

Enzo Maresca has reportedly been identified as City’s number-one candidate should Guardiola step aside, a scenario which – according to Scholes – would damage the club’s chances of attracting world-class talent in the transfer market.

He said: ‘I think Pep is the big pull for City. If me and Nicky [Butt] were going to talk to City and it’s Pep Guardiola, of course we’d love to play for him, but you’d have to know he was staying.

‘Enzo Maresca at City doesn’t excite you that much, does it? But Pep, whatever club he’s at, that would excite you because he’s been the best.’

Scholes, who won the treble with United in 1999, went on: ‘I think it [Guardiola’s future] would have to be a massive factor. Definitely.

‘If you’re talking about medals, which really you should be, then you’re probably more likely to win at City at this point.

‘That might change over the next two or three years and he [Anderson] would be a big part of it, to try and get them to those levels.

‘Look, Manchester United are still a bigger club and they’ll always be a bigger club, but if you’re thinking purely about medals then you’d have to choose City, just.’

Throughout United’s resurgence under Carrick, Scholes has been honest and open when it comes to his reservations about handing his former team-mate the head coach job on a full-time basis.

Scholes’ remarks have drawn the ire of some sections of the fanbase, with the Red Devils going on to secure third place and Champions League qualification with Carrick at the helm.

But the ex-England international maintains that he will be ‘concerned’ should United enter next season with a similar-looking squad given they are ‘still conceding a lot through the middle of the pitch’.

‘This job changes now for him,’ Scholes said.

‘It’s still a big job now but now it’s real, he’s got trophies to go for, he’s got to try and get them close to winning the league and that will come from expectation.

‘I don’t know what United will expect, the expectation has to be tapered a little bit. Can we win the FA Cup? Can we win the Carabao Cup? Can we get second or third in the league?

‘You have to remember that this is Manchester United. They expect everything, they expect the world.’

Scholes went on: ‘I know they’ve done great, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of the games, they’re still conceding a lot of chances.

‘They’re still conceding a lot through the middle of the pitch and sometimes those games can go 50-50.

‘Now, if they start again with pretty much a similar team then I’d be concerned.’

Nottingham Forest are aware of the growing interest in Anderson and have reportedly responded by setting an eye-watering price tag of between £100-120million for their prized possession.

‘I don’t have the answers. The market is the market and everything can happen,’ Forest boss Vitor Pereira said when asked about Anderson’s future after his impressive showing at Old Trafford last weekend.

‘What I can say to you is that the club wants to keep him playing for us, for sure.

‘The club wants to keep almost all the players because this is a very good group with quality and character and we have a very good base for next season.’

According to Pereira, Anderson has all the talent and potential to reach the very highest level in the game.

‘He has the talent to be one of the top, top of the top,’ he added.

‘Every time he can score more goals, he can take a little bit more risk in the last third because he has a very good shot.

‘It depends on the system because if we play in the system where we give him total freedom to build play and to appear, I think he can do everything, but in our system, we are playing with two midfielders.

‘If he lose every time the position, when the other one lose the position, we don’t have midfielders. It means that it’s a system that doesn’t give him total freedom to create.

‘He needs to understand when the other ones loses the position that he cannot lose the position.

‘But he has a lot of talent, for sure. He’s young and he will fly with big wings.’

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