Graeme Souness has made a somewhat questionable claim about Cole Palmer and Pep Guardiola’s decision to let him leave Manchester City last summer.
City cashed in on their academy product at the end of the transfer window, with the youngster joining Chelsea in what was a fairly surprising move at the time.
There had been no word of Chelsea’s interest up until just a couple of days before the window closed.
In the end, Palmer had decided that he needed to leave his boyhood club in order to go and get more game time, having only made 41 games for City.
Pep Guardiola claimed that he did say to Palmer that he’d get more game time if he stayed this term, but his mind was made up…
Graeme Souness makes a very questionable claim about Cole Palmer after Manchester City exit
Since leaving City, Palmer has absolutely flourished.
The star has been Chelsea’s best player this season by a country mile, scoring 14 goals and making 12 assists in 34 appearances.
That £42.5 million price tag that looked so expensive now looks a real snip, and Palmer stands a very good chance of going to the Euros with England this summer.
It is nice to see things working out for him, but Graeme Souness has made a rather questionable claim about Palmer relating to why he was sold by City.
In his eyes, the player was moved non because Pep simply did not rate the youngster enough.
He told Simon Jordan in a video for talkSPORT: “If Pep sanctioned the move, I think that maybe tells you… they may say to be kind to boy ‘Oh well, you know we had to cash in.”
When challenged by Jordan if Pep did actually sanction the move, or if it was more a push from the player, Souness replied: “I don’t think he sells him, that’s the top and bottom of it. I don’t think you sell him if you really really think he’s going to be a top, top player.
“Pep decided to sell him, because maybe he thinks he’s not going to be what everyone else is saying now.
City don’t stand in players’ ways, regardless of their quality or potential
This is an odd take from Souness because it is common knowledge that City don’t tend to stand in players’ ways when they want to leave the club. Sometimes, like with Leroy Sane, the club will accept a slightly lower offer than the player’s true market value.
Ultimately, Palmer wanted to leave City to get more game time and he cannot be blamed for that. He is a fantastic young talent and he himself knew that, and wanted to place himself in an environment where he could show it more often.
Unfortunately, that place couldn’t be the Etihad given how many good players there are.
And Pep did say that he was ready to offer Palmer more minutes, although he surely wouldn’t have played as much as he has done at Chelsea. It’s also worth noting that some City players publicly expressed their sadness at Palmer leaving, including John Stones.
It was just one of those things, but Palmer is already showing that he definitely could become a top-class player in the future.
