Gary Neville has suggested that Manchester City made a rare error in the transfer market by selling Cole Palmer in the summer.
Palmer continued his brilliant debut season in a Chelsea shirt in his side’s latest 3-2 win against Newcastle United as he scored his 11th Premier League goal of the season.
Since the £42.5 million (BBC Sport) man’s departure, many have debated whether City made a mistake by letting him go.
Gary Neville suggests Manchester City made a mistake by selling Cole Palmer
In February, Chris Sutton pinned the blame on Pep Guardiola for letting the 21-year-old sign for Chelsea.
Even Aston Villa midfielder Jacob Ramsey, who played alongside the Wythenshawe-born attacker for England’s U-21 sides admitted he did not expect him to ever leave the Etihad Stadium.
Now that Cole Palmer has left Manchester City and looks right at home at Chelsea, Gary Neville has hinted that the Premier League champions should have kept him.
“I think when you look at Man City, they have [Jeremy] Doku in that wide area who they have signed, Jack Grealish has been injured but I think he would have been a real asset to the current Premier League champions in those wide areas”, he said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football show.
Cole Palmer would have been very useful for the treble-winners this season
Regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with the suggestion made by Gary Neville, it cannot be argued that Cole Palmer would have been extremely useful for this Manchester City side this season.
Often, Phil Foden has had to be deployed on the right flank due to the absence of any other potential candidate in that position but if his countryman was at City, he would have easily fulfilled that role and allowed the former to play even more regularly in midfield.
Similarly, Palmer is well capable of playing as an attacking midfielder, as he is showing at Chelsea and with De Bruyne’s injury, he could have been used behind Haaland alongside Foden.
Even when Jeremy Doku was injured, Cole Palmer could have been used as an option on the left flank.
Palmer is an extremely versatile attacker and at City of all teams, he could have made a huge difference this campaign due to this very quality.
