Nightmarish £35m deal is still haunting Newcastle United, now more than ever

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Newcastle have endured some tough moments in recent transfer windows.

Eddie Howe was left with a headache as Alexander Isak went on strike during the summer, before eventually managing to force through a £125m move to Liverpool.

The summer before, Newcastle were forced to sell Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest due to profit and sustainability rules (PSR) – a move nobody at St James’ Park wanted – and that deal is now starting to sting even more.

Elliot Anderson beginning to blossom as Newcastle hunt for a midfielder

The 22-year-old made his England debut against Andorra on Saturday in the World Cup qualifier following a strong start to the season with Nottingham Forest, and played a key role in the opening goal as he teed up Noni Madueke to deliver.

Anderson – who Pep Guardiola admires – has played every minute in the Premier League so far, and can boast one assist.

The man born in Whitley Bay is starting to flourish at a time when Howe is hunting for a new central midfielder, after Sean Longstaff opted to join Leeds back in July.

TBR Football understand Newcastle held talks about signing Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid during the summer transfer window, and also approached Davide Frattesi of Inter Milan.

Had the Premier League not effectively forced Newcastle to sell Anderson – however – the Geordie would have slotted in perfectly in a midfield department already containing the impressive Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton.

What Eddie Howe said after losing Elliot Anderson

Howe made his frustration known to the public after PSR forced the sale of Anderson – Yankuba Minteh also had to be sacrificed in a £30m move to Brighton.

The 47-year-old said: “Elliot was a sale we didn’t want to make. Nobody at the football club internally wanted to make that sale but we had to… for us to put all the work into Elliot, the academy, the coaches, the time, to then see him leave and now flourish for another Premier League club isn’t something I think we should be in a position to do.

“It should be more of a level field, you can sell players and have the same effect that it was with Elliot. Of course it was all profit for us, his sale, that’s why we were incentivised to sell him.”

The BBC also shared comments from Anderson’s mother, who said the Nottingham Forest No.8 was initially “disappointed” to have been offloaded, revealing: “Elliot was, for a time, very disappointed to be sold. It was a unique situation that he had not had any pre-warning about, nor had he asked for the move.”

Newcastle unfortunately did not manage to negotiate a buyback clause in the deal with Nottingham Forest, so it would surely take a monumentally large fee to get the playmaker back on Tyneside now.