After Anthony Elanga had picked up two assists in Nottingham Forest’s 3-1 win away to Newcastle United on Boxing Day his name started trending on social media. Forest supporters praised the performance of the 21-year-old but among the accolades were claims from Manchester United fans that they should not have sold him for £15 million last summer.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, especially when Elanga’s nine goal contributions (four goals and five assists) at that point was more than the seven that United’s misfiring forwards had managed between them, but there are no regrets from the Sweden winger over leaving the club he had been at since he was 11.
In another world, and maybe under a different manager, things might have worked out differently for him at Old Trafford, but as he thrives at the City Ground that is not something that has crossed his mind.
“It was difficult [to leave] but it was needed because I wanted to play and I didn’t want to spend another season just playing ten minutes or not playing for ten games,” Elanga says. “I wanted a fresh start but I knew it wouldn’t be easy leaving a club that I had been at for nine years.”
Elanga was given his first-team debut at United by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at the end of the 2020-21 season and he soon won the faith of Solskjaer’s successor, Ralf Rangnick. When Erik ten Hag took the reins in 2022 many at the club thought Elanga could be the cornerstone of a new-look team, given the Dutchman’s reputation for developing young talent.
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The player himself was looking forward to pushing on, but with only five league starts last season his career at Old Trafford did not go the way he had hoped it would, not that he is resentful towards Ten Hag.
“Sometimes football is like that, it might not always work somewhere,” Elanga says. “I had seen what he did at Ajax so I was looking forward to it but I just didn’t get the opportunities.”
One young player who has been given an opportunity at United this season is the midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, who has started the past nine league games and has impressed with the speed in which he has adapted to the demands of the Premier League. Elanga talks to the 18-year-old regularly, and says his friend’s rise was no surprise.
“He’s an amazing player and a top person and I just want him to keep doing what he’s doing because the sky’s the limit for him,” Elanga says. “I’m not surprised at all. I saw it when I was playing with him in the academy for the Under-19s Youth League. Those that have the real eye, they’ll know he plays the same as he did in the academy. Obviously he’s had to adapt but he still plays the same playing style.”
Elanga has also had to adapt, in his case to a new team and environment. It was the draw of working with Steve Cooper, alongside the history of the club, that made him want to join Forest last summer.
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Although he got to work with Cooper for only five months before the head coach’s dismissal, he was impressed with how Cooper and his staff had brought on young players, and Elanga had development meetings twice a week with his then coach.
Elanga lists everyone from the first-team staff to the chefs to the groundsmen and the fans as to the reason why he feels so settled, and he is enjoying working with Cooper’s successor, Nuno Espírito Santo.
“It’s all about learning and improving and something I’m especially grateful for, with Nuno coming in, is that it’s not just all about running in behind,” Elanga says. “It’s about getting in between the lines in tight spaces, and that’s something I’ve really worked on since the start when he came in and that’s something I’ve been getting better at. I want to be unpredictable, use both feet which I’m good at, go down the line, left foot, right foot, cut inside and I’m enjoying it.”
It is not only Elanga, who has boosted his goal contributions since Boxing Day to five goals and seven assists, that has improved since Nuno’s arrival. Statistics show Forest are now averaging an extra goal per game and Elanga believes they are all demonstrating a level of composure that had been lacking before.
With the team sitting only four points above the drop zone, there is room for improvement. However, Elanga insists there has been no talk of relegation — despite the club being at risk of a points deduction for breaching Profitability and Sustainability Rules — and says there is confidence within the club that they have the quality to stay up.
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On an individual level Elanga wants to show the Premier League what he is about because, despite his decent tally of goals and assists this season, he still thinks he has not proved he belongs in the top tier.
Part of not feeling good enough comes down to Elanga being his own toughest critic. His driven personality means that he constantly sets himself challenges and his present one is learning to speak Chinese, which would add to being fluent in English, Swedish, French and Spanish. His mentality stems from growing up in a professional sports environment in Sweden, where his dad was a defender for Malmo. Even at that young age he had set himself a target: not just to become a footballer but to be better than his father.
“That isn’t being disrespectful but instead to see if I can outdo him,” Elanga says. “He showed me the levels he needed to get to where he was and I love challenges, so I thought maybe I can step that up a notch and I’m still growing and learning.”
His family are not the only people he has taken advice from. He still remembers the words of wisdom given to him by Sir Alex Ferguson and the youth coaches at United. From firm handshakes to punctuality and professionalism. Then there was the time spent training with Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
“They are easily approachable, I enjoyed working with them and I think they enjoyed working with me,” he says. “I’ve always been someone who wants to find that extra percentage to improve. Having Ronaldo come in, I tried to take some chapters out of his book and try and form it into mine.
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“There was a time when I missed a penalty [against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup] and after that he kept speaking to me and telling me, ‘It’s not the end of the world, I’ve missed loads before and you’ve shown character and professionalism taking one at your age.’ I took that on board and that’s really helpful.”
The next step is to once again prove a point against his former team and the manager who did not take a chance on him. Just as he did in the 2-1 league win against United in December, Elanga is looking to send a similar message when Forest host Ten Hag’s side in the FA Cup fifth round on Wednesday.
“For me it’s about showing I can do it against any team. Especially coming up against your old team you want to show them even more that you can do it,” he says. “I feel I need to keep in my lane and keep doing what I’m doing. The people on the outside don’t know me so I don’t listen to the external noise. I just stay inside and try and keep improving.”
Nottingham Forest v Manchester United
FA Cup fifth round
Wednesday, 7.45pm
TV BBC One from 7.30pm
