Will Elliot Anderson have an increased role with Newcastle United?
By Cade Cracas
Heading into the 2022-23 offseason, Newcastle United is feeling good as they ride high off of a 4th place Premier League finish which secured them an appearance in the 2023-24 Champions League tournament.
However, with such success comes movement within the younger players of the club. Fan favorite Elliot Anderson may have to find a new home for the upcoming season as his minutes will most certainly be limited in the next campaign.
Everyone who has come into contact with Anderson has had one common thing to say about the youngster: he has the potential to be a top player in the world. Newcastle United has loved his production and Bristol Rovers, where he was loaned to in 2022, believed that he could be a football great by the end of his career.
These claims have only been backed up by his play on the pitch, given it has been very limited.
When the 2022-23 Premier League season hit the beginning of 2023, the Magpies were given the opportunity to allow him to shine, and that he did.
He had a phenomenal performance against Nottingham Forest back on March 17, where the youngster came just inches away from finding his first Premier League goal. He was given a cross inside the box and headed it into the top right corner, before it was ultimately overturned after a VAR review deemed him offside.
However, after the contest came to a close, former Premier League referees deemed that the overturned call was unwarranted and that Anderson was not actually offsides.
Unfortunately, Anderson continues to look for his first Premier League goal.
Now, even with him playing well to finish the previous season, Newcastle could move on from him as the team looks to keep the team in tip-top shape for a Champions League run.
They already have a sizeable midfield with the likes of Anthony Gordon, Joelinton, Bruno Guimaraes, Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock, so the room to break through into the rotation is slim.
So, why would that happen?
Well, it can be simply deemed down to the level of competition.
Newcastle is going to be going up against some of the top players and clubs in the entire world, and with Anderson still being unpolished the youngster needs to clean up some of his raw talent.
With the Magpies beginning to flourish in the Premier League, it may be smart to send him out on loan again. If the team were to transfer him, it would be a waste of the endless amount of time they have put into him.
Currently, his worth is just sitting at around €3.5 million, which would be lackluster for the worth he holds within Newcastle’s locker room and the club itself.
If the team does decide they need to move him to give him more time to play, sending him on loan to a higher-end EFL Championship team or a club in another league would be the best bet.
It will be interesting to see what the Magpies decide to do with him moving forward, but the options look to be dwindled down to two things: loan or keep him.
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