Elliot Anderson’s rise stings for Newcastle United, but he almost left St James’ Park in a dreadful swap deal.
Newcastle United’s PSR struggles brought the painful exit of Elliot Anderson in 2024.
Born in Whitley Bay, Anderson is a boyhood Newcastle fan who should be donning the black and white stripes with pride for years to come.
Sadly, Anderson was sold to Nottingham Forest to raise funds before the PSR deadline.
Anderson is now valued at £100million and continues to shine, not just for Forest, but also on the international stage for England.
Newcastle United attempted a strange Elliot Anderson swap deal
Anderson always had major talent and potential at Newcastle, but few could have expected him to become this good this quickly.
Seeing Anderson become a star away from St James’ Park really stings, especially as Newcastle were essentially offering him out.
The eventual deal with Forest saw Newcastle sign Odysseas Vlachodimos in exchange, though the Greek stopper has barely played.
It’s easy to forget that Newcastle actually proposed a different swap deal in order to offload Anderson.
Reports from the Daily Telegraph claimed that Newcastle offered Anderson to Wolverhampton Wanderers in a deal for defender Max Kilman.
The Magpies offered cash plus Anderson, but Wolves said no before selling Kilman to West Ham United for £40million.
Kilman impressed for Wolves, but he has struggled ever since joining West Ham, and certainly hasn’t proven that he would have been a positive addition for Newcastle.
Ex-Wolves boss Gary O’Neil highlighted issues with Kilman on Sky Sports (23/10), suggesting that he switches off too much.
“We did a lot of work with Max, a lot of work. He’s probably not found his best form yet this season. At Wolves, we did a lot of work with him on not switching off. We used to speak to him, because he’s big and he looks for a rest a lot, Max. So he’ll be involved in the game, and if he gets a moment to switch the engine off, he’ll take it,” said O’Neil.
Sending Anderson to Forest and bringing in Vlachodimos hasn’t exactly worked out, but the Kilman deal would have created bigger problems.
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Newcastle United missing out on Max Kilman allowed Malick Thiaw to sign
Vlachodimos was signed as competition for Nick Pope between the sticks, but few ever really expected him to start.
The Greek stopper has impressed on loan at Sevilla and is likely to leave Newcastle permanently in 2026.
That deal hasn’t set Newcastle back too far, which may not have been the case if Kilman had signed.
Kilman would have been signed as a potential starting centre-back, competing with the likes of Fabian Schar, Dan Burn and Sven Botman.
Judging from his West Ham form, that would not have gone particularly well for Newcastle.
Newcastle then targeted Malick Thiaw from AC Milan, but had to wait a year before finally signing the defender.
Would Newcastle have still moved to sign Thiaw a year after landing Kilman? Probably not.
Thiaw has been outstanding this season, and far better than anything Kilman has shown in a West Ham shirt.
Anderson’s exit stings, but at least it didn’t end up costing Newcastle the chance to sign Thiaw as well.
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