Elliot Anderson and Johan Manzambi have been two of the top performers at the 2026 World Cup finals.
Elliot Anderson and Johan Manzambi respectively helping England and Switzerland through to the quarter-finals of the tournament.
The two World Cup stars potentially playing each other in the semi-finals, if Norway and Argentina are defeated.
Elliot Anderson has been in the engine room, doing a lot of the water carrying to help England get to the last eight. The 23-year-old starting all five matches so far for the Three Lions and getting one assist.
Johan Manzambi a far more creative and dynamic player, getting forward from midfield to devastating effect, his four appearances (injury ruled him out of the penalty shoot out victory over Colombia) bringing three goals and two assists.
The two players also share another connection, during this World Cup tournament, both Johan Manzambi and Elliot Anderson have agreed to join a new club ahead of next season.
This is where the two cases get curious, at least for me.
On Friday, widespread reporting across the media in both Germany and the UK that Newcastle United had reached agreement with Freiburg on a £49m deal, plus Johan Manzambi had agreed personal terms as well with NUFC. All of the media reports saying that the transfer would then be formally finalised once Switzerland’s interest had ended in the World Cup.
This prompted many sceptical Newcastle United fans to call this out as a deal that was now clearly going to fail, that Johan Manzambi wasn’t formally concluding the transfer now because he was waiting for a better offer to come in from another club. Many of these United fans pointing to Elliot Anderson having signed for Manchester City during this 2026 World Cup, so why not Johan Manzambi doing the same? If he was serious about coming to Newcastle United, surely the Switzerland midfielder should just get the deal finalised like former NUFC star Anderson.
Only one flaw with this reasoning.
Elliot Anderson has not finalised his move to the Etihad.
Manchester City have agreed a transfer fee with Nottingham Forest.
Elliot Anderson has agreed personal terms with Man City.
However…the transfer has not been concluded yet. That won’t happen until after England have ended their interest in the 2026 World Cup, then the plan is for Elliot Anderson to head to England and finalise the move, sign on the dotted line.
For me it is very much a case of spot the difference?
The only difference I can see between the two imminent transfers is that Newcastle United fans are looking at the reporting of the two moves in very different ways. Plus of course an ignorance in many cases, where they weren’t even aware that Elliot Anderson hadn’t completed his Man City move.
I think at times we are all so obsessed with Newcastle United, what is and isn’t happening, that we make assumptions things happen very differently elsewhere.
Some Newcastle United fans have also quoted Victor Munoz as a transfer that has been finalised whilst he and Spain are in the middle of their World Cup challenge.
Well yes, Munoz has indeed completed his transfer to Liverpool, BUT very different to the cases of Manzambi and Anderson.
Victor Munoz had his move to Liverpool from Osasuna set in motion long before Spain kicked off their World Cup matches and he formally signed for the scousers almost four weeks ago, in between their opening two group games. Reality is that Munoz is at the very outer reaches of the Spain squad and unless some kind of huge injury crisis will never get on the pitch. He hasn’t even had a minute off the bench in Spain’s first six World Cup matches and it would be a huge shock if he had any involvement in the semi-final or final if they get that far.
In contrast, Elliot Anderson and Johan Manzambi are key players for their countries and with quarter-finals imminent, the idea that they would be spending any chunk of time at this point finalising a club move, is laughable. How would that look to the media and fans of their national teams, at this crucial time of possible World Cup glory in the coming week and they waltz off and change focus away from England and/or Switzerland for selfish club reasons?
Indeed, it is even more complicated for Johan Manzambi as he has picked up that knee injury in training, he missed the last 16 Colombia match and the Switzerland manager has now confirmed he won’t face Argentina either.
Yes we will all sleep easier once Johan Manzambi has formally signed on for United but the absolute certainty of imminent doom is embarrassing from some.
This is the exact same as happened with Bazoumana Toure, that transfer fee agreed between Hoffenheim and Newcastle, the personal terms agreed with the player, then only when Ivory Coast were knocked out of the World Cup did he fly to England and formally signed for NUFC.