Anderson was an obvious signing for a top Premier League club.
The 23-year-old had developed into a key player for Nottingham Forest. An added appeal was the fact he is English, and had cemented his position in the national team.
City fought off other top clubs, including Manchester United, to sign him.
It would seem, on the face of it, a straightforward decision.
But the way City analysed it underlines their incredibly forensic approach even when, outwardly, it might be considered they did not need to be so comprehensive given Anderson’s obvious talents.
The fact they still used their algorithm and went through all their normal steps says a lot about elite football in the modern day – and also the limitations of data alone.
That is because – perhaps surprisingly – Anderson’s metrics didn’t necessarily catch the eye.
At the start of last season, despite emerging uncertainty over Guardiola’s future, the club knew they would be in the market for at least one central midfielder come the summer.
They knew Bernardo Silva was leaving while there were doubts over the futures of Rodri and Nico Gonzalez.
There was an acknowledgement that replacing Silva and Rodri like-for-like would be virtually impossible, so they looked for a player who was equally adept at building play from either deep or high central midfield.
As last season developed, doubt also emerged over the future of Tijjani Reijnders – but Enzo Fernandez was viewed as the favoured replacement for the Dutchman.
Anderson made the initial cut from the 650,000-man database to the longlist – but was not high in that group. However, his metric readings didn’t immediately scream out the “no-brainer” he ultimately became.
As City took a closer look, there was an acknowledgement Anderson’s case does highlight some of the limitations of data.
Anderson did not score lots of goals for Forest, or consistently provide assists. Because, generally speaking, Forest aren’t a possession team like City, his general metrics in their algorithm did not grab the attention.
With that in mind, City’s data analysts had to consider that, because Anderson was generally playing closer to his own goal than he would at City, he wasn’t getting the opportunities to impress in the final third of the pitch.
So they paid close attention to what he was doing at Forest and modelled his potential role in a City team that generally plays closer to the opposition’s goal, dominates possession and has more elite players.
Among the criteria graded on Anderson’s ‘radar chart’ were defensive regains, duel success, line-breaking passes, aerial-duel success and defensive errors.
With his reading for defensive errors, it was acknowledged that, because Forest were a transitional side, some were a result of the area of the pitch in which he was asked to operate.
He may, for example, have regained possession deep inside his own half but lost the ball because he had to play a longer and a riskier pass after being asked to play forward quickly.
In the same scenario at City, it is anticipated Anderson would have options to play a shorter pass with a greater success rate.
“Just because a player doesn’t have the opportunity to perform a particular action on a regular basis because of the team he is playing doesn’t mean he can’t do it,” said a source.
Anderson’s data readings improved significantly as the season developed, which compelled the club’s scouts to watch him on a regular basis.
He stood up very favourably against City’s existing midfielders – and a list of rival players the club had identified as possible signings in that area.
The results of the diligence completed by City’s data team, scouts and other experts meant that even though Anderson’s price increased beyond what City believed was his true valuation, they felt the risk was low.
“Elliot Anderson is a great example of how the process works,” Viana said.
“The data was positive for Elliot and gave us real confidence in his profile, but it was the insight from our scouts and wider performance team that helped us understand the player and his attributes and this proved our belief that he was the right fit for the club.”