Manchester City have now moved into pole position in the race for an “incredible” star, with Pep Guardiola captivated by him.

Man City's January transfer plans taking shape

It is clear that Man City could do with bringing in some additional attacking firepower this January, given that Erling Haaland has scored more than half of their 27 Premier League goals this season, although Phil Foden is showing signs he could be getting back to his best.

City survived a scare to defeat Leeds United 3-2 on Saturday, with their academy graduate bagging a brace, scoring the all-important third goal in stoppage time.

However, with Haaland perhaps still in need of additional support in attack, the Blues are looking to sign a new forward, and they are now exploring a move for AFC Bournemouth star Antoine Semenyo.

Semenyo is not the only target though, with Guardiola’s side setting their sights on a new midfielder, amid Rodri being unable to overcome his injury woes, and there has now been a new update on their pursuit of Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson.

According to a report from Spain, Man City are now the clear favourites to sign Anderson, but they will have to shell out one of the highest transfer fees in their history to get a deal done, with a €100m (£88m) asking price being touted.

Guardiola has been left captivated by the midfielder, who has attracted interest from some of the world’s biggest clubs, including Manchester United and Liverpool, but City have now moved into pole position in the race for his signature.

The Blues’ financial resources should also give them the edge, and there is every indication he would be a fantastic addition to Guardiola’s squad…

"Incredible" Anderson has earned move to top club

The central midfielder has been nothing short of a revelation for both club and country this season, most recently putting in a top performance against Brighton & Hove Albion, despite Forest losing 2-0, winning more duels and completing more dribbles than any other player.

Elliot Anderson’s key statistics

Number completed

Dribbles

6

Duels (won)

17 (12)

Accurate passes

62/71 (87%)

Crosses (accurate)

13 (6)

Lauded as “incredible” by journalist Konstantinos Lianos, the Forest star has also received high praise from England manager Thomas Tuchel, who said: “He is an elite player with the right attitude and a lot of talent. He is fulfilling his role in the best way possible so we are very happy with him.”

Related Man City now frontrunners to sign "world-class" £80m star, Pep's a big fan

There has been a new update on City’s pursuit of a new forward, who Pep Guardiola has dubbed “extraordinary”.

Posts ByDominic Lund Nov 27, 2025

With Rodri still struggling on the injury front, it would be ideal to bring in a new midfielder who could help keep the pressure on Arsenal in the Premier League title race, and Anderson has proven himself as a top player this season.

Kookaburra had been used instead of the Dukes in selected rounds of the County Championship

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2025The controversial trial which saw the Kookaburra ball used for some rounds of the County Championship season has been scrapped after three seasons.The ECB first proposed the trial as part of Andrew Strauss’ high-performance review three years ago in the hope that using the Kookaburra ball – rather than the Dukes – would encourage the development of spinners and bowlers with “extreme skills”. The pilot initially lasted two rounds of games in the 2023 season, and was criticised by county coaches.Rob Key, the ECB’s managing director of men’s cricket, was a strong advocate for the Kookaburra ball and convinced the counties to expand the trial to four rounds for the 2024 season. Surrey’s Alec Stewart described that as “the worst decision ever” but Key doubled down, saying it had produced “some bloody good cricket” after 17 of the first 18 fixtures ended in draws.Related

English cricket's Kookaburra experiment: 'Fantastic' or 'worst decision ever'?

Batty criticises trial of Kookaburra balls in Championship as 'silly' and 'illogical'

The Kookaburra was used for four further rounds in 2025 but again produced a high proportion of draws, epitomised by Surrey piling on a club-record 820 for 9 declared against Durham at The Oval.It led directors of cricket from the 18 counties to make clear their wish to scrap the trial at a meeting last month, and the decision to revert to using the Dukes ball throughout the 2026 season was confirmed at a meeting of the Cricket Advisory Group – a sub-committee of the ECB Professional Game Committee – earlier this week.Key and the ECB have taken a more hands-off approach to county cricket in recent years, and made a point of leaving discussion over proposed fixture restructures to the clubs earlier this summer. The counties failed to come to an agreement over the future of the Championship, but did agree to a small cut in the number of T20 Blast fixtures for 2026.

Laura Wolvaardt and Deepti Sharma had World Cups to remember, breaking some records and closing in on other ones

Namooh Shah04-Nov-20253:00

Rapid Fire – moments from the World Cup

A batting boom like never beforeThe 2025 edition produced batting numbers at a scale never seen before in the women’s game.There were 11 275-plus totals, one better than the previous edition. The tournament also saw 15 individual hundreds, surpassing the 14 in 2017. As many as 21 batters crossed 200 runs this tournament, with 20 of them striking at above 75, a big leap in scoring tempo.The previous edition had 15 of the 19 batters with 200-plus runs going at a 75-plus strike rate. Before 2025, just 46 of 131 batters with 200-plus runs in women’s ODI World Cups had done so at that tempo.