Enzo Fernández understandably attracted plenty of attention on his City debut against Coventry.
A £125m Deadline Day signing tends to do that. But alongside him was another expensive summer arrival who is rapidly becoming rather difficult for Enzo Maresca to leave out. Elliot Anderson was outstanding again.
Anderson making his mark
The England international was named City’s player of the match after yesterday’s 1-0 win and completed 143 of his 155 attempted passes, a success rate of 92%.
But this wasn’t just an afternoon of knocking the ball around at will against a newly-promoted side.
City’s own assessment had Anderson at the heart of everything – winning tackles, starting attacks and keeping his side moving. And it wasn’t a one-off.
Maresca made a point afterwards of mentioning Anderson’s previous performances against Bournemouth and Crystal Palace.
“Really impressed,” said the City boss.
“The best thing about Elliot is the day by day; he’s asking how he can learn, and he wants to be better.”
Even Frank Lampard joined in.
The Coventry boss, who knows a thing or two about playing in midfield, described Anderson as “very talented, very smart” and backed him to become a very good midfielder for City.
All of which leaves Maresca with a sizeable collection of options.
Fernández will clearly have a huge role to play. Ayyoub Bouaddi came off the bench yesterday, while Nico O’Reilly and Mateo Kovačić provide further competition.
Anderson has started the season looking less like a player finding his feet at a new club and more like one who has been there for years. Three Premier League wins in, Maresca already trusts him.
And with the competition Anderson has around him, that says a lot.
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