The fee Newcastle will receive by selling Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest has emerged, as has the identity of the player they’ll be taking in the other direction – and it’s not Anthony Elanga.
Newcastle have agreed a deal to cash in on academy graduate Anderson, who is set to join Forest to help with Profit and Sustainability compliance. It comes after his 55 appearances for Newcastle, all but two of which have come since his return from a loan spell with Bristol Rovers in 2022.
Aware of their need to raise funds before Sunday’s cut-off point for business in the 2023-24 footballing year, or else risk a points deduction like the one Forest were hit with last season, Newcastle have agreed to sell Anderson to Forest, as well as Yankuba Minteh to Brighton.
While the Minteh deal will put about £33m in the bank for Newcastle, they are reportedly set to earn £35m from the Anderson one, which will match Andy Carroll’s 2011 move to Liverpool as their most expensive sale of all time.
However, Newcastle will also be gaining the services of a player as part of the Anderson operation, who will be assigned his own value – which is as yet unclear – in a technically separate transaction.
READ MORE: Chelsea up the ante for Alexander Isak by offering Newcastle attacker signed just last year
Initially, it was believed that former Manchester United forward Anthony Elanga was being discussed as a counterpart, just a year after his move to Forest.
But instead, as first revealed by the Daily Mail‘s Sami Mokbel, it’s another 2023 signing in the shape of Odysseas Vlachodimos who is actually in line to join Newcastle from Forest.
Newcastle set to sign new goalkeeper
The goalkeeper arrived in the Premier League last September from Benfica. However, he has only made seven appearances for Forest since, with Matt Turner and Matz Sels both preferred to him last season for gametime in goal.
Newcastle have been considering the addition of a new goalkeeper to compete with Nick Pope, despite Martin Dubravka still having a year remaining on his contract, and recently turned their attention to Vlachodimos.
Things have accelerated quickly, as should be expected on a day like this with a deadline, and both Anderson and Vlachodimos have been booked in for medicals with their respective new clubs.
The Greek goalkeeper has accepted joining Newcastle, while it was already known that Anderson would be willing to join Forest.
Newcastle selling a player to Nottingham Forest isn’t too distant a memory, since the most recent example was Chris Wood in 2023. As for the other direction, Vlachodimos will become the first man to go from Forest to Newcastle since a double deal involving Karl Darlow and Jamaal Lascelles in August 2014.
Vlachodimos is on course to become Newcastle’s second signing of the summer after they picked up Lloyd Kelly after his contract with Bournemouth expired.
The update may come as a disappointment to Liverpool, who as TEAMtalk revealed were thinking of offering their own backup keeper Caoimhin Kelleher to Newcastle in a cash-plus-player bid for Anthony Gordon.