City's improved offer was structured as £100 million guaranteed plus £20 million in performance-related add-ons, according to the Mirror.
Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is holding out for the entire figure to be paid as a fixed fee rather than contingent on bonuses tied to Anderson's success at the Etihad.
A deal at Manchester City's current valuation would make the 23-year-old the most expensive Englishman in history, surpassing Jude Bellingham's £115 million move to Real Madrid and Declan Rice's £105 million transfer to Arsenal.
Al-Mubarak's position, as reported by the Mirror, is that City's offer already represents fair value for a player who has not featured in the Champions League and whom the club regards as still having plenty to prove at the highest level. The City chairman has form for walking away from negotiations he considers unreasonable — he did so when Liverpool moved for Virgil van Dijk in 2018, with City refusing to engage in an auction for the Dutch defender.
Anderson made 92 appearances for Forest since joining from Newcastle United for £35 million in 2024, scoring six times and helping the Midlands club reach the Europa League semi-finals while securing Premier League survival last season.
He has made his preference clear. Sources close to the player describe him as wanting City ahead of both Manchester United and Chelsea, with personal terms not expected to present any obstacle.
Manchester United have already withdrawn from the race, unwilling to enter a bidding war and instead advancing talks with West Ham United's Mateus Fernandes as an alternative midfield target. City, for their part, retain Newcastle's Sandro Tonali on their shortlist as a fallback option should the Anderson pursuit collapse entirely.
Anderson is currently on World Cup duty with England and started the 3-0 warm-up victory over Costa Rica. Every match he plays in North America adds to his profile — and, potentially, to Forest's resolve.
The two clubs remain some distance apart. Whether that gap closes before the World Cup ends, or City simply move on to other targets, is the question now hanging over Forest's summer.