How the £15m net transfer Elliot Anderson never wanted became the best thing to have happened to him: CRAIG HOPE and TOM COLLOMOSSE on Newcastle's boy, likened to Gazza and Beardsley, who's now Forest's man

With Elliot Anderson, there were those who knew, and the majority who did not. Nottingham Forest knew, and only now is everyone else catching up.

Because at Newcastle, in just two full seasons around the senior squad, the midfielder was something of a contradiction - a hidden gem in plain sight.

Even the scene of his debut at Arsenal was symbolic of what would follow, an empty stadium 300 miles from home. When he later gave arguably his best performance in a Newcastle shirt, it happened at 2am UK time during a pre-season friendly in the United States.