Forest have £116m to spend so why is Curtis Jones the name on the table

Nottingham Forest have just pocketed a British-record £116m from Manchester City for anderson" class="entity-link entity-link--player">Elliot Anderson, a player they bought for £35m two years ago with no sell-on clause attached. The reported name being floated as his replacement, Liverpool's Curtis Jones, is valued at just £40m and has one year left on his contract.

That gap, between the money in the bank and the calibre of player being linked, is the real story here. This is less a transfer scoop than a pundit's opinion being repackaged as one, and it raises an obvious question: with a war chest that size, why are Forest even being mentioned in the same breath as an out-of-favour academy graduate that Liverpool are relaxed about selling cheaply?

Why Forest need a midfield reset after the Anderson windfall

Anderson's rise has been startling. Signed from Newcastle for £35m, he became an instant fixture at the City Ground, prized for his passing range, close control and relentless work rate. That form earned him an England call-up in 2025, and he is now considered one of Thomas Tuchel's first names on the team sheet heading into the 2026 World Cup.

A fee that dwarfs the previous British record

City's £116m fee smashes the previous British transfer record of £105m, set when Declan Rice moved to Arsenal. Forest didn't insist on a sell-on clause when they signed Anderson, so this fee is theirs in full, a windfall that instantly makes them one of the best-funded clubs in the Premier League this summer.

Former Forest player James Perch is under no illusion about the scale of the void Anderson leaves behind.

"To try and replace Elliot Anderson and what he does is going to be very hard. I say it's going to probably take two players to cover what he does because he does so much for Forest in that midfield."

That's a significant admission before Perch even gets to naming names: Forest aren't just replacing a player, they're replacing a system. One marquee arrival won't cut it, and with £116m to reinvest, there's no financial excuse for thinking small.

The case for Curtis Jones, and why it doesn't fully stack up

Perch's pitch for Curtis Jones centres on certainty rather than upside. Jones is a Liverpool academy product, an England international, and someone who "will just walk straight into the team", according to Perch.

"He's proven. He's an England international. So you're not taking a gamble on him and hoping he hits the ground running. I "

Even the pitch admits he's a downgrade

That last line does a lot of the work here. Perch is essentially arguing that Forest should spend big to sign a player he openly rates as inferior to the one they've just sold, purely because he's a known quantity. That's a defensible logic for a mid-table club shopping cautiously. It's a much harder sell for a club sitting on £116m and genuine ambition.

Jones's situation at Liverpool tells its own story. He's slipped behind Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai in the pecking order, and reports of a "tiff" with former manager Arne Slot, including an outburst on television, haven't helped his standing. Slot has since left Anfield, replaced by Andoni Iraola, formerly of Bournemouth, but Jones still finds himself down the queue under the new regime.

A summer of outgoings that explains the £40m price tag

Liverpool's wider summer business puts Jones's valuation in context. The club is also losing salah" class="entity-link entity-link--player">Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate, the latter joining Real Madrid on a free transfer, while bringing in defender Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes for £60m and hijacking Newcastle's move for Victor Munoz for a fee worth £34.5m.

• Serie A interest: Inter Milan had an approach for Jones rebuffed, with Liverpool holding firm on a £40m valuation.
• Contract situation: Jones, an academy product, has just one year left on his current deal.
• Pecking order: At least three midfielders sit ahead of him at Anfield under Iraola.

None of that reads like a club fighting to keep hold of a coveted asset. It reads like a club happy to cash in on a squad player before his contract value erodes further.

What Forest should really do with £116m

The uncomfortable truth in Perch's framing is that "can't go wrong" is often code for "won't excite anyone either". Forest have the rare luxury this summer of not needing to settle. A £116m windfall, on top of whatever else they generate in outgoings, gives them scope to pursue a genuine upgrade on Anderson rather than a cut-price facsimile of him.

The pressure of a rebuild built on one sale

Perch's own assessment, that it will take two players to replace what Anderson provided, only sharpens the point. If Forest are working from a shortlist that starts with an out-of-favour Liverpool squad player valued at a quarter of what they've just received, the ambition gap becomes the story rather than the transfer itself.

Forest's midfield rebuild will define how their season is read by everyone tracking the Premier League's recruitment battles this summer, from bettors pricing up their top-half chances to rivals assessing the market. Spending £116m wisely, on the right profile of player rather than the safest name available, is the challenge now facing the City Ground hierarchy.

What happens next

Nothing here is confirmed as an active Forest approach. This is a former player's opinion on the Weekend Sports Breakfast rather than reported negotiations, and Jones remains just one name being floated publicly rather than a done deal or agreed target.

Watch for how Forest actually deploy the Anderson fee over the remainder of the window. If Perch's two-player theory holds, at least one of those signings needs to represent a statement of intent rather than a value pick, particularly with Forest needing to show top-flight rivals they can reinvest smartly rather than simply bank a record fee and shop in the bargain bin.

Jones's situation will also resolve itself regardless of Forest's interest. With Inter Milan already rebuffed and only a year left on his contract, Liverpool are likely to move him on this summer to whoever meets their £40m valuation, whether that's Forest or another suitor entirely.