Season is not over for Newcastle youngster Elliot
ELLIOT Anderson has returned to Newcastle United following his outrageously successful loan spell with Bristol Rovers and is eligible to play in the Premier League over the final two games of the season.
The Newcastle Chronicle reports that the 19-year-old is a genuine midfield option for Eddie Howe following injuries to Jonjo Shelvey and Joe Willock, ruling them out for the remainder of the 2021-22 campaign.
Newcastle play Arsenal and Burnley and, after relegation fears were eased several weeks ago, can finish as high as ninth. But Howe’s midfield options are thin, as evidie’s denced by the decision to call up 18-year-old Jay Turner-Cooke to the travelling squad against Manchester City on Sunday.
Turner-Cooke didn’t make the matchday 18 but was part of the warm-up and with Anderson now returning to the North East, he’s arguably further down the development path than his academy colleague, potentially setting himself for a top-flight appearance having made his Premier League debut last season as a late substitute in a 3-0 defeat to Arsenal.
Anderson scored the crucial seventh in a stunning 7-0 victory for Rovers over Scunthorpe United on Saturday, which catapulted them into League One. It was the GeorOne
seventh goal of a hugely profitable loan spell, which also produced six assists.
The 19-year-old arrived on transfer deadline day in January after a move for Fleetwood Town’s Callum Camps was blocked by the League
club, and after impressing with a cameo at Sutton United, Anderson quickly became a starter to the left of Joey Barton’s threeman attacking midfield unit.
Of the 21 games since he became a temporary Rovers player, Anderson started 20 and completed 90 minutes in 16 of them, emphasising his importance to the Gas.
Anderson impressed with his goal and assist output, but also his dribbling ability, creativity, work rate, body strength and how he was able to constantly influence a game.