Alan Shearer explains why Thomas Tuchel was right to snub Nottingham Forest star Elliot Anderson

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Nottingham Forest have seen a number of their players go off on international duty this week.

The latest to leave was Morgan Gibbs-White after his late call-up to the England squad by new manager Thomas Tuchel.

Anthony Elanga might play in an unusual position for Sweden, whilst talismanic defender Nikola Milenkovic has been called up to captain Serbia.

A host of young Forest players have gone off too. Zach Abbott is with the England under-19s, whilst Eric da Silva Moreira will hope for some games with the Germany under-19s.

Elliot Anderson has joined up with the England under-21s and perhaps he can count himself a little bit unlucky not to be with Tuchel’s squad instead.

Gary Neville has raved about Anderson this season and it would appear that he’s destined to make the step up to the England senior ranks at some point.

• READ MORE: Shay Given admits he’s changed his mind about Forest

Alan Shearer explains why Thomas Tuchel was right over Elliot Anderson

At 22-years-old, Anderson is relatively inexperienced when it comes to playing regular football in the Premier League.

However, he’s quickly established himself at Forest and it looks like a superb move made by him to swap Newcastle for the Reds last summer.

Shearer is a big fan of Anderson, however, he does understand why he’s not been selected by Tuchel this time around.

He said on The Rest is Football podcast: “I wasn’t so surprised that he wasn’t in the squad, although he is having a very good season again as plenty of them are in that Forest team.

“But, his time will come if he keeps playing really well and that’s the beauty if you’re a player that’s hurt by not getting in the squad, you’ve got the opportunity when the next one comes along.”

Elliot Anderson stats 2024/25

The youngster was a superb addition to the Forest ranks last summer – albeit a surprising one.

It was anticipated that as a number 10, Anderson would have to play second fiddle behind Gibbs-White but that hasn’t been the case.

Instead, Anderson has been thrust into the midfield engine room and has made the position as the team’s number eight his own across the campaign.

Anderson watched Newcastle win the Carabao Cup at the weekend but from a professional point of view, he must be buzzing to have made the move to the City Ground.