Manchester United dan Manchester City Berebut Gelandang Elliot Anderson

Dua klub raksasa, Manchester United dan Manchester City, kini tengah bersaing ketat untuk mendatangkan gelandang andalan Nottingham Forest, Elliot Anderson, menjelang pembukaan bursa transfer musim panas mendatang.

Pemain berusia 23 tahun tersebut menjadi target utama Manchester United sebagai suksesor Casemiro yang akan hengkang, meski Manchester City saat ini memimpin perburuan untuk mendapatkan tanda tangannya.

Nottingham Forest menetapkan harga sebesar 100 juta poundsterling untuk sang gelandang yang telah tampil konsisten dan membantu klubnya menembus babak semifinal Liga Europa musim ini.

Manajer Manchester United, Michael Carrick, memberikan pujian tinggi kepada Anderson menjelang pertandingan pekan terakhir Liga Primer Inggris melawan Nottingham Forest di Old Trafford.

"Yeah, he's done well. I think he's a big part of their team," kata Carrick, Kepala Pelatih Manchester United.

Carrick menilai sang pemain memiliki kontribusi besar terhadap performa impresif tim lawan sepanjang kompetisi musim ini berlangsung.

"I think he offers so much and they've got a really talented team and dangerous team," ujar Carrick.

Klub asuhan Carrick menegaskan tidak ingin terlibat dalam perang harga dengan Manchester City, walaupun ketertarikan mereka terhadap lulusan Wallsend Boys Club itu tetap besar.

"So they've had a good season to get to the [Europa League] semi-finals and just fall short. But yeah, you can see obviously he is important part of their team," tambah Carrick.

Di tingkat internasional, performa gemilang Anderson membuatnya masuk ke dalam skuad tim nasional Inggris untuk Piala Dunia mendatang di bawah asuhan manajer Thomas Tuchel.

"Anderson is a key player for us at the moment. He is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League," kata Tuchel pada bulan November lalu.

Tuchel mengungkapkan bahwa kontribusi konsisten di atas lapangan menjadi alasan utama mengapa sang gelandang muda menjadi pilihan utama di lini tengah tim nasional.

"That's why he is with us and starting for us. He deserves it because he has been nothing but impressive. He has to keep on going now though. He is a very complete and mobile midfielder, and that's what he keeps showing me," ujar Tuchel.

Menurut Tuchel, atribut fisik dan mental yang dimiliki sang pemain sudah berada di level tertinggi untuk kompetisi internasional.

"He is an elite player with the right attitude and a lot of talent. He is fulfilling his role in the best way possible so we are very happy with him," tambah Tuchel.

Di sisi lain, Kepala Pelatih Nottingham Forest, Vitor Pereira, menyadari tantangan besar untuk mempertahankan pemain pilarnya dari kejaran klub-klub raksasa pada bursa transfer nanti.

"All the players, they can move in the summer or in the winter," jawab Pereira saat ditanya mengenai masa depan Anderson.

Pereira menegaskan bahwa peran Anderson sangat vital bagi tim, namun masa depan klub secara keseluruhan tidak boleh bertumpu pada satu individu saja.

"What I can say about Elliot is that he is a fantastic player. He is very, very important for us," ujar Pereira.

Nottingham Forest sendiri berhasil memastikan diri bertahan di Liga Primer Inggris musim ini dan mengalihkan fokus untuk membangun kestabilan tim ke depan.

"We will see what happens. But a club cannot depend on (one) player. A club is not a player or a manager. A club is the club. We have a lot of people working hard to make the club better and better," tutur Pereira.

Manajer asal Portugal tersebut menambahkan bahwa timnya perlu melakukan persiapan matang pada pra-musim agar tidak mengulangi kesalahan yang berujung pada perjuangan menghindari degradasi.

"We will see what happens with him and with everyone else. We will try to have, next season, a squad with balance to compete at this level, because this is the top level. The teams who commit mistakes in pre-season, usually they pay the bill," jelas Pereira.

Meskipun pasar transfer sulit dikendalikan sepenuhnya, Pereira merasa skuad yang ada saat ini hanya membutuhkan sedikit penyesuaian tanpa perombakan besar.

"When we start work, I do not like to change a lot - just if we need to. When we started our work here, I said that we had very good players; talented players. It was just about giving them confidence," kata Pereira.

Pereira memilih untuk fokus menyelesaikan sisa kompetisi domestik sebelum mengadakan pertemuan evaluasi dengan pemilik klub, Evangelos Marinakis.

"In my opinion, it is still exactly the same. We have very good players. I do not think we need a lot of changes. But we will see, because the market is the market. We can control the market, but not totally. We will see what happens," lanjut Pereira.

Masa depan tim akan dibahas secara mendalam setelah pertandingan terakhir musim ini selesai dilaksanakan.

"It is not the time to speak about next season, but to finish this season and to focus on the last two games. After, we have time to discuss what we have to discuss," tegas Pereira.

Pemilik klub juga dilaporkan tetap memiliki ambisi besar meski Nottingham Forest dipastikan absen dari kompetisi Eropa pada musim 2026/2027.

"We have a good base, I think. We have good players. If we have very good players and the time to work properly, with some adjustments, we can have a very good season next season," tambah Pereira.

Komunikasi antara jajaran kepelatihan dengan pemilik klub sejauh ini berjalan situasional sesuai dengan kebutuhan tim.

"I'm not a manager that speaks every day with the owner. We talk not every day but when we feel that we need to talk," ungkap Pereira.

Agenda pra-musim kini tengah disusun untuk memastikan kesiapan fisik dan taktik para pemain berjalan lebih baik dibandingkan musim sebelumnya.

"Now is the moment to finish the season and prepare the pre-season. We are working on pre-season. It's time to have some meetings and to discuss the future," kata Pereira.

Pereira juga merefleksikan pengalaman masa lalunya saat menangani Wolverhampton Wanderers untuk dijadikan pelajaran berharga dalam membangun masa depan Nottingham Forest.

"I think it's important to give my opinion (on transfers) and that's why I'm talking about meetings that we need to have. But we need to be focused on the final two games," ujar Pereira.

Pengalaman di klub sebelumnya diakui tidak bisa disamakan langsung dengan situasi dinamis yang dihadapinya di City Ground saat ini.

"At Wolves it was an experience in my life that was fantastic in the first season. The second season was not in the way that followed my expectations," kenang Pereira.

Fokus utama manajemen sekarang adalah membangun konsistensi performa tim demi mencapai level kompetisi yang lebih tinggi secara berkelanjutan.

"You cannot compare the two clubs. I respect Wolves a lot but now I'm here at Forest I cannot speak about my past. I want to speak about Forest because I believe we have a very good base to build a good future together, to build a good team to compete at another level more consistently and without too many changes - because this season was very difficult for the players with a lot of changes and different managers. In football and in life we must learn every time with our experiences," pungkas Pereira.