What Rio Ferdinand once said about Anthony Elanga that seems unbelievable now at Nottingham Forest

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Anthony Elanga’s excellent form this season coincided with Nottingham Forest’s rise into Champions League contention, but his growth in one area is particularly impressive.

He’s been linked with a move away this season, but Elanga emphasised his love for Forest in recent weeks to ease any nerves from Reds fans about his commitment to the cause under Nuno Espirito Santo.

Elanga’s most remarkable display of the season was no doubt his three assists in the 7-0 win over Brighton, in which Stuart Pearce heaped praise on Elanga despite Chris Wood scoring a hat trick in the game.

The Swedish international’s talent was never in question, even when he was at Manchester United so the challenge for Espirito Santo was more to try and get Elanga to deliver more consistently in the Forest squad.

His 12-goal contributions certainly suggest that this consistency is getting closer to matching his natural talent, but all of this must come alongside an appetite to support the team defensively, something that United legends Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes were never convinced by.

Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes had doubts about Anthony Elanga’s work rate

Man United were enraged watching Elanga against Brighton given how their current forwards are performing, but it’s not as if the Swede was universally loved when at Old Trafford.

In his best season in Manchester, Elanga only mustered five goal contributions, but it was his defensive work that troubled Ferdinand and Scholes as United were eliminated from the Champions League by Atletico Madrid in the 2021/22 season.

Speaking on BT Sport at the time, via the Daily Mail, Ferdinand said: “I go back to Elanga, this is where you have to be disciplined and follow people, put in those hard yards. You need bodies to come back and to chase and to help and unfortunately in that position it was one man against three.”

Scholes was equally unimpressed, adding: “This is the last 16 of the Champions League against a team who are unbelievably experienced in this competition. When you are out of your shape, [and] you’ve lost the ball, the first thing you do is sprint back, and he hasn’t done it.”

Given the counterattacking style of the Forest manager, such deficiencies wouldn’t be acceptable in his team, so Elanga has had to work hard to fix this, something that is evidenced in his defensive statistics this season.

Anthony Elanga has significantly improved his defensive work

With such little possession, work off the ball is crucial in Espirito Santo’s system, so forwards such as Elanga must be ready to put in the hard yards.

The 22-year-old wins his fair share of duels per match, with a 66.7% success rate in tackles showing that he is no pushover in defence.

His 3.33 recoveries per 90 show that when required, Elanga is ready to sprint back but perhaps doesn’t need to as much due to the excellent solidity of Espirito Santo’s well-drilled shape.

It’s become no secret that Newcastle United have an interest in Elanga, but the version of the ex-United man is much more rounded after working under Espirito Santo, meaning that any sale would bank the club a fortune for a winger who can now impact a game at both ends.