Cole Palmer: The two collapsed deals which spark surprise Chelsea transfer.

• Chelsea targeted other players ahead of 2023 capture of Cole Palmer
• English forward didn’t appear on club’s transfer radar until late in window
• £42.5m move quickly turned into one of the best deals of recent times

Cole Palmer has been Chelsea’s leading light during a difficult period for the club.

But it has now been revealed that the England star wasn’t initially even considered ahead of his 2023 arrival.

Palmer made the £42.5m switch from Manchester City at the very end of the summer transfer window last season. He was the 11th permanent first-team signing in a two-month period.

At that point in his career, Palmer was still relatively unknown outside Manchester and had made all but three of his 19 Premier League appearances for City as a substitute.

That Palmer was “not in Chelsea’s transfer plans” until the final days of that window. It was only after the Blues had failed to understand the specific terms of Michael Olise’s Crystal Palace release clause and moved too late for Mohammed Kudus as the Ghanaian joined West Ham United from Ajax that Palmer emerged as an option at all.

Palmer was in the midst of his own battle with Pep Guardiola and Manchester City.

Determined to get more first-team opportunities and eyeing a loan as the best way to achieve that. Guardiola wanted him to stay put at เล่นเกมคาสิโน UFABET ทันสมัย ฝากถอนง่าย the Etihad Stadium or be sold permanently, with the player opting for the latter route and walking away from the club he’d joined at eight years of age.

Brighton & Hove Albion and West Ham were both looking at a deal in the region of £25m, before Chelsea gazumped them both with £40m guaranteed and £2.5m in add-ons.