There are people complaining that Manchester United won’t bid for Elliot Anderson, or should just pay the money - so I’ll repeat the same thing I said after the first bid. There is no point bidding for a player that has decided they do not want to join the club.
City bid for Anderson because he has clearly indicated that he wants to go there. The reasons? Irrelevant. That is where he wants to go. In the transfer market you bid with encouragement to do so from the players' camp. Why would a meaningless bid be better?
Sadly Anderson hasn't been the main focus in a while & they have moved onto other targets, it is becoming clear why that was. The club wanted him, did what they could & he picked someone else. That isn't a slight on their ambition. It's the reality that they can't compete with City's wages & fee involved.
It was the same with Antoine Semenyo. Money talks. Manchester United have not recovered financially from years of transfer & contract mistakes, they still have some on their books. It'll take more time & good season on good season to fix that.
It is often the people complaining the loudest who either don't know how the game is played, or are being actively ignorant about it & don't want to learn.
Manchester United have played this brilliantly with Elliot Anderson. It is apparent they had moved on from him for a while once they knew the ridiculous asking price, but have stayed in it long enough to force City into paying full freight & break the transfer record for him anyway.
Better yet, Marinakis could go completely insane, rejects all bids & then draws it out so he ends up staying at Forest. Now United just have to go finish the job by finding far better value in the market, sign Mateus Fernandes & make their money stretch far better than this deal.
Comes a point where the juice isn’t worth the squeeze & we are well past that.