It was once the case that joining Manchester United would transform a player’s career – now it seems that leaving can seriously improve a footballer’s prospects.
Nottingham Forest winger Anthony Elanga scored one of the goals of the season against his former club to add his name to a burgeoning list which this season alone includes the names of Marcus Rashford and Antony.
Rashford scored twice on loan at Aston Villa at the weekend and may win a second consecutive FA Cup this season with Unai Emery’s side, having won it at United last year. Antony is so popular at Real Betis that the fans want to crowdfund his permanent signing.
But neither he nor Rashford have had quite the direct impact on United as Elanga did at the City Ground. The 22-year-old’s stunning goal was the difference between the teams and it now appears inevitable it will be Elanga playing in the Champions League next season.
Other ex-United players include Scott McTominay, who is fighting for the Serie A title at Napoli and Dean Henderson, who is in goal for a Crystal Palace team one place ahead of United in the table and preparing for an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. All of them have flourished away from the mothership.
The departures of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gerard Piqué in the first decade of the century under Sir Alex Ferguson showed that leaving United did not mean a career in decline. But there have been so many departures in the post-Ferguson era of players that have prospered elsewhere that it is starting to become a feature.
In August, Danny Welbeck scored against United in a 2-1 win for Brighton, 10 years after he had left Old Trafford. It later emerged that United had tried to re-sign their former academy boy the previous summer.
Elanga was offloaded with little resistance to Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2023 for the humble transfer fee of £13.5 million and, at the time, there were no complaints from United’s supporters. The general consensus seemed to be that while Elanga was blessed with explosive speed, there were also doubts over his composure and end-product.
When you consider Elanga was only 21 at the time of his departure, with still so much time to develop his potential, it now appears another poor decision from United’s football operations. Perhaps it is the environment and suffocating pressure at United, for Elanga is not alone in flourishing away from the club.
Ruben Amorim succeeded Erik ten Hag, who sanctioned Elanga’s sale, and the new manager offered a harsh verdict on why the winger was allowed to move. Amorim said: “We are talking about a lot of players that come from Manchester United and they are doing right, but they had the chance here.
“In Manchester United, you don’t have the time. I will not have the time. We have to get it right fast. They had their chances and sometimes football is like that, the pressure of playing from Manchester United is really big.”
Elanga has moved on now. With 28 goal contributions for Forest since he joined (no United player has managed more in that time) he has been one of Nuno Espirito Santo’s standout players as Forest chase down a Champions League place.
He is leading on assists this season and his sixth goal of the campaign was remarkable, covering 85 metres in nine seconds before beating André Onana. Shortly after the goal, as he strode to take a corner in front of United’s travelling supporters, he was given a warm reception by many of them. Was he given enough time to prove himself at Old Trafford? Arguably not.
Elanga was born in Hyllie, in Malmo, Sweden, but moved to the north west of England with his mother Daniella and sisters Sandra and Chanelle in 2013. His father, Joseph Elanga, a former Cameroon international who was part of their 1998 World Cup squad and played more than 100 times for Malmo, remained in Sweden for work.
Elanga played for Hattersley FC Under-13s, an amateur club 10 miles east of Manchester where as an 11-year-old he was first spotted by United not long after his family had relocated.
Eventually making his competitive United debut towards the end of the 2020/21 season, it was in the following campaign when the big moment came. An excellent performance as a substitute away at Atletico Madrid in the Champions League hinted at a bright future. Elanga provided the United goal in a 1-1 draw, delivering a calm finish after that blistering pace had taken him away from a streetwise defence.
After the game, he said he had dreamed of moments like that, but they were rarely repeated. The departure of Ralf Rangnick, a major influence, was a major disappointment and Elanga never truly recovered. He was made available in the summer of 2023 and it was Forest and Everton both jostling to sign him.
At one point it appeared that Everton were likely to win the race, but the input of Steve Cooper cannot be overestimated. Cooper was Forest’s head coach at the time and conducted a series of Zoom calls with Elanga from the club’s training base near Valencia to persuade him to join. Elanga is understood to have harboured some concerns over Everton’s style of football under Sean Dyche and Forest moved swiftly to secure a deal.
His first season included flashes of promise in what was a difficult one for the club. After being hit with a four-point deduction, Forest were inconsistent and recorded the lowest points total for a non-relegated club in the Premier League.
Yet this season he has elevated his game to a higher plane. He is perfect for Nuno’s game model, possessing pace, skill and trickery which is most effective on the counter-attack.
The Sweden international has been crucial in Forest’s pursuit of a top-four finish, while he will also be preparing for an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City later this month.
While United continue their seemingly never-ending rebuilding job, Elanga seems to be another one who got away.
