Man City's reason for selling Cole Palmer to Chelsea - report

Manchester City may have let Cole Palmer leave the club last summer because he wasn't seen by Pep Guardiola as being the correct fit for the team's structure.

Chelsea agreed a £42.5m deal for Palmer that was completed on transfer deadline day, even though the 21-year-old had made just 41 senior appearances at that point in his career. But the Blues have reaped the rewards after he reached 20 Premier League goals for the season on Monday night.

In light of Palmer's success since moving on, City's decision to let him leave has been scrutinised.

Now, The Guardian cites sources with knowledge of the Palmer deal to state that he is too much of a "free spirit" and not the "right profile" of player that Guardiola usually prefers.

Having let home-grown Palmer go, City are reported to be targeting other attacking midfielders to boost depth and competition in that area of the pitch – including a "big push" for Bayern Munich's Jamal Musiala and alternative interest in Eberechi Eze and Lucas Paqueta.

From Palmer's perspective, he is on record saying that his reason for wanting to leave the club where he’d spent 13 years from the age of eight was motivated by a desire for more regular playing time.

"I'm not saying I shied away from the competition [for places at City] because I've never done that,” he said a few weeks after arriving at Chelsea. "I'd been [around the first-team] for a few years and wanted more of an opportunity to play - in my position - and to have more of an impact."

Palmer scored twice for City at the start of 2023/24 before his transfer happened, including the equaliser in the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla that the club went on to win.

Including 23 goals for Chelsea in all competitions, his overall tally for the campaign is 25, plus 13 assists, while he is now a certainty to be included in Gareth Southgate’s final Euro 2024 squad.

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