6 months ago
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Chelsea nearly missed out on signing Cole Palmer last summer after prioritising two alternative transfers, according to reports.
Palmer enjoyed an incredible debut season at Stamford Bridge after joining the Blues from Manchester City in a £42.5m deal in the last summer window.
The 22-year-old conjured up 22 goals and 11 assists across 34 Premier League games, remarkably breaking a record set by Chelsea legend Eden Hazard.
But things could’ve been very different with ESPN revealing that Palmer was only signed after Chelsea failed to bring in both Michael Olise and Mohammed Kudus.
Chelsea tried to sign Olise from Crystal Palace but he decided to sign a new deal with the south Londoners while Kudus ended up joining West Ham from Ajax.
It is thought that Palmer was not in Chelsea’s transfer plans until the final days of the window and that two other Premier League clubs almost landed him before.
Brighton and West Ham both registered an interest and felt £25m would be enough to land him, before Chelsea swooped in with their late £42.5m offer.
Pep Guardiola begged Palmer to stay at City but the player had his heart set on moving to Chelsea.
‘He was asking for two seasons to leave and I said, ‘No! Stay! Stay!’ – but he said, ‘No – I want to leave’ – what could we do?’ City boss Guardiola said last month.
‘I said in pre-season, stay. He said he wanted to leave. What could we do? I said stay because Riyad [Mahrez] is gone but for two seasons he wanted to leave. Playing that level [he is now] is exceptional. He’s an exceptional player. I didn’t give the minutes that maybe he deserved and now he has at Chelsea.
‘I understand completely. He’s a shy guy with a lot of potential. It is what it is. He’s playing fantastic so what can I say, the decision has been made for many reasons.’
Chris Sutton feels Guardiola has ‘egg on his face’ after selling Palmer to the west Londoners.
‘Pep rarely gets egg on his face but it looks like this time he’s got it wrong,’ Sutton said. ‘He really does. Palmer has been phenomenal in a struggling Chelsea team.’
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