On those rare occasions when you achieve something momentous in life, one of the most satisfying parts of the whole experience is being able to share it with those nearest and dearest. Fledgling Manchester United starlet Anthony Elanga is no different.
“I came back from Madrid on the Friday and he called in my shop the same day, over the moon with his goal and couldn’t wait to talk about it,” John Croke, owner of Market Place Carpet Centre in Hyde, seven miles east of Manchester, tells i.
“I said to him everyone in Hattersley is mad for you now and they all want to see you in Madrid, and he comes back with 10 tickets. I nearly got arrested when he scored trying to get on the pitch! He doesn’t even realise what a great kid he is, the things he does for people around here.”
Elanga’s first-ever Champions League goal, oozing calm to belie his 19 years, rescued United a 1-1 draw at the Wanda Metropolitano against a far superior Atletico Madrid 10 days ago – just the next stage on his journey from being a shy Swedish kid to the next exciting young star in a team desperately in need of hope for a brighter future.
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That journey began when 11-year-old Elanga and his family moved to England, where he forged lasting relationships with figures like Croke in the Hyde and neighbouring Hattersley community. They have not forgotten him in this less affluent part of Greater Manchester. And he has not forgotten them.
“‘Thank you very much, Ian’ he would say, without fail. No matter how far he had to run over to say it,” Ian Forder, Elanga’s coach at local side Hattersley Under-13s, tells i. “Have you heard his accent now? Now he sounds like he’s from Hattersley, which makes us love him even more.
“I’d be in John’s carpet shop, as we both had lads in the team with Anthony, and he comes running in on his way to United training for a chat. What an incredible kid he is.”
How Elanga came to play for Hattersley is another bizarre tale. He had played for Malmo back home before coming to Hyde with his mother Daniella and two sisters. He is also the son of former Cameroon international Joseph Elanga. Hattersley, your ordinary local side, had no idea what they were getting.
“He was looking for Hyde United,” Forder continues. “It was raining as it always seemed to on our training days. Hyde trained in the next cage to us at the Ken Ward sports centre but they hadn’t turned up that night.
“I noticed this lady walking around with her young son, I asked her if she was OK and she said, in broken English, ‘are you Hyde’ and I said no we are Hattersley.
“I said rather than have a wasted journey come and play with us. I didn’t realise he was 18 months younger than the others. But he put his boots on and five minutes later I was running after his mother with the signing on papers.”
It was a short stint at amateur level for Elanga, with players this gifted alerting United and City quickly. The latter passed on the youngster having had him in for training, but United didn’t think twice.
“From being in England, he found his way to United, via Hattersley, in about six months,” Forder recalls. “What made him stand out was his awareness and control of the ball. In the 14 matches he played for me, he only scored about 18 goals, but he assisted about 40. He was so unselfish, which does not happen in 11 and 12-year-olds.
“One funny thing is that Uefa got in touch asking about Anthony and we thought it was a wind-up. Turns out they had got us confused with Malmo, as they were checking out his history with United wanting to sign him. We didn’t even know he had played there!
“He was just a nice lad who wanted to play football. Then, it dawned on us who his father was. It was a very strange few months.”
Immersed in the United youth setup, it would have been easy for Elanga to move on from those at Hattersley he had only briefly been acquainted with, with that Mancunian accent you see in his bright, bubbly post-match interviews today a world away.
But Elanga, according to those who have seen him mature into the fine player he has already become, is built differently.
“Nothing is ever too much trouble,” Croke, who used to drive Elanga to training at United, says. “We never ask for anything, we wouldn’t do that. He just does them. At Christmas he comes round with Christmas presents for my lads and a hamper for my wife, what because I gave him a lift to training when he was 11? I’d do it for anyone who needed it.
“For his first Champions League start against Young Boys [in December], a huge moment for him, he gave his shirt to my son Jake for his 21st birthday.
“He goes back [to Hattersley FC], does open days with the kids, turns up and does Q&A sessions, and they can’t get enough of him. Off his own back, that’s how he is.”
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The big moments will keep coming for Elanga. A loan move seemed the best option for his development before interim manager Ralf Rangnick arrived at Old Trafford in November.
One look at the versatile forward changed the German’s mind and, along with Jadon Sancho, he has been one of the rare shining lights for United in another season of much darkness.
Should he take to the field and make his Manchester derby bow at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow, you would not put it past this level-headed, intelligent teenager having a say in the outcome.
If he does, we all know where he will be soon after.
“If the Ballon d’Or was awarded on attitude alone, he’d cruise it,” Croke adds. “He has got his head screwed on and will go very far. That comes from his mother. He starts his pre-season two weeks before everyone else. He isn’t 20 until April. That isn’t what your average teenager does.
“His first, first-team game was against Aston Villa in a friendly last season. He came on for [Marcus] Rashford. That night I rang him to say well done on getting on, joking saying we better get that shirt in the shop, and sure enough, he pops down with it. It is now framed on the wall. And it will stay there forever.”
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