Winners and losers from Cole Palmer’s move to Chelsea
Chelsea’s attempt to snap up virtually every available name on the European transfer market took a new turn after dishing out £45 million for Manchester City starlet Cole Palmer.
The winger who was City’s most prolific player in the Community Shield and the UEFA Super Cup will be donning the royal blue of Chelsea, completing a dozen signings for the Blues.
Injuries to Carney Chukwuemeka and Christopher Nkunku had new boss Mauricio Pochettino requesting an attacker who can play in different roles, across the front line with creativity.
Enter Palmer. A left-footed winger who can play in the pocket or the right. With enormous squad depth and no European football, he’ll have to impress Pochettino and shoehorn a regular spot. As such, Raheem Sterling and Noni Madueke are contestants for the right-wing place.
Without further ado, let’s look at who benefits the most from the shocking Palmer deal.
Winner – Manchester City
Make no mistake, this is not a write off.
Palmer has the makings of a world-beater, as already demonstrated in the youth setups and during his brief trade in Pep Guardiola’s first team.
He’s versatile, composed and mature beyond his years. But for a player who has a mere three Premier League starts to his name and under 50 senior appearances, £45 million is a stellar profit for City, especially since he was one of their own.
Loser – Carney Chukwuemeka
When things looked grim yet again, down 1-0, unable to break down a solid West Ham despite churning out over 75% of the game’s possession, Chelsea needed a moment of brilliance from young Carney Chukwuemeka to level the score line.
The Blues would go on to lose the match 3-1. The scorecard didn’t paint the picture to any extent, but what hurt Chelsea more was the injury to their goal scorer.
Now with Palmer signing for Chelsea and set to be unleashed in an innovative role behind Nicolas Jackson, it’s difficult to see Chukwuemeka earning his place back.
The competition for spots in this Chelsea system is already unforgiving, and the Aston Villa graduate may have fallen a place or two behind in the pecking order.
Winner – Jeremy Doku
Doku, 21, completed a dream move to the Etihad from Rennes last week on a five-year deal, but only featured on the bench in the team’s win over Sheffield United.
With Palmer set to switch parties and Riyad Mahrez having earned a lucrative Saudi move, Doku becomes a key player for Man City right away.
He can play on the right or in a role currently manned by Julian Alvarez. Regardless, with City’s congested fixtures and his obvious talent on board, Doku will be a huge player for Guardiola both this season and beyond.
And finally…
In the balance – Cole Palmer
Palmer has agreed to join the Chelsea project as have many others. Chelsea has neither the stability that City have thrived on for many years now, nor have they anything to show for it on the pitch over the last year.
But unlike City, he gets a chance to give it the full throttle and flourish with a pool of youngsters carrying a historic, successful club. It’s risky, but that’s what football is about. Taking the giant strides at different junctures of one’s career. And Palmer has just done that.
Only time will tell how many will make it at Chelsea. But write Cole Palmer off at your peril.
-Roy Akarshak
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: Bex Walton. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.