5 months ago
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Chelsea star Cole Palmer was met with a merciless message from Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola last summer.
The 21-year-old joined the Blues in a £40million deal on Deadline Day after growing frustrated with a lack of opportunities at the Etihad.
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However, after joining at the age of eight and spending 13 years at the club, Palmer now admits he never wanted to leave Man City permanently.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, the England star reveals he asked to be sent on loan for the 2023/24 campaign.
But treble-winning boss Guardiola was not having it.
When asked if he was surprised City were willing to sell him to Chelsea, Palmer said: "Yeah.
"Initially I didn't want to leave. I said I would go on loan and play for a year so I was ready for first-team football more because I didn't play a lot of minutes [last season].
"But then Pep said, 'You're either staying or you're getting sold' and, so yeah, I just got sold.
"I was a bit confused why they wouldn't let me go on loan but [then] I said I wanted to go to Chelsea and I'm glad it's turned out the way it has."
Palmer has been a bright spark in a disappointing Chelsea team which finds itself tenth in the Premier League despite spending more than £1billion since May 2022.
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But the former City star admits he has no regrets over leaving for Stamford Bridge.
"Everyone quite clearly can see the two clubs are in different stages," Palmer added.
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"One is a project and one has established players. Our project is a young project. There are a lot of young players and I thought I would fit the project well.
"I didn't know what the personalities were like before I came so they could have many people that liked it [having responsibility].
"But I would have thought I've definitely got more responsibility than I got at Man City."
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