Enzo Maresca says it is a 'dream' to have Elliot Anderson at Manchester City, with the £116m man backed to hold the midfield together. Anderson was the first signing of the Maresca era this summer and has quickly been trusted to play in front of the defence and link with the attack.
Midfield options and early choices
City spent £320m to bring in a trio of midfielders in the transfer window, with Ayyoub Bouaddi and Enzo Fernandez also coming in. Fernandez has been used higher up the pitch, and while Bouaddi is seen more as a No.6 he was alongside Fernandez in the Brighton game last week rather than next to Anderson.
Maresca sees the potential in Bouaddi playing as the holding midfielder, but if it is between him and Anderson it is currently the former Forest man who is given priority for that role. Maresca has worked closely with the England international and is excited at the potential for him to be even better.
Manager's vision for Anderson
"The idea was to have Elliot close to the central defender for different reasons: for the transition, for the build-up. Both, they can play, they are a No.6 at the moment. But it depends the way we want to build and press, or use the other one a bit higher," said Maresca.
"It's a matter of balance. We have Elliot, Ayyoub, Enzo, Rayan, Phil, Mateo Kovacic when he played some games. So game by game and it depends a little bit on the game plan to use different players. For me, Elliot in this moment is playing more as the holding midfielder, but in future he can also play a little bit more up front.
Learning and improvement
"Knowing him now, he's a guy who wants to learn every day. We sat with him with a video. He wants to understand things, he wants to learn and improve and for a manager it's a dream because you know that he wants to learn and you can do different things."
