Cole Palmer’s continued sizzling form for Chelsea has prompted a Premier League goalscoring legend to raise pertinent fresh questions over Manchester City and Pep Guardiola’s decision to let the youngster leave the Premier League champions for their rivals.<\/p>\n
Former Newcastle goalscoring ace Alan Shearer harbors doubts about Guardiola\u2019s claim that the latter knew Palmer was a star in the making all the while when the lad was still in the Etihad.<\/p>\n
City had reluctantly allowed the quiet, lackadaisical homegrown forward, who was craving regular first-team football, to join Chelsea in a \u00a340million-plus deal in 2023 – which at that time seeemed to make a lot of sense financially – that now looks like an absolute steal, not to mention being in hindsight a gross error of judgement, given Palmer’s current superlative form for club and country over the last 18 months.<\/p>\n
His former boss at City always maintained that he rated Palmer highly, despite not having given the lad consistent game time. Speaking earlier this year, Guardiola insisted: \u201cIf he plays regularly, yes. I didn’t have any doubts about his quality.<\/p>\n
“The way he’s playing is a star player. He wanted the minutes, it was a question of time to show his immense quality.”<\/p>\n
However, Shearer somehow isn\u2019t convinced City realized the immense talent and the potential latent in the youngster that they had sitting on the bench. Speaking following Palmer\u2019s brace of unerring penalty goals in Chelsea\u2019s 4-3 win at Tottenham, the Newcastle legend told The Rest is Football podcast: \u201cI wonder how Man City are looking at him now and their decision [to let him leave]\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI know they got big money for him but I\u2019m not sure they thought he would go to do the things he\u2019s doing, no way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Host Gary Lineker pointed out: \u201cWell, they got big money but nothing like what he\u2019d be worth now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former City defender Micah Richards then added: \u201cAt the time, it was perfect for City. He was homegrown, they got 40million quid, it\u2019s worth more because of [FFP] rules.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone was saying it was a fair deal. \u2018\u00a340million for a player who comes off the bench\u2019. So it looked like a really good deal. Man City knew about his talent but I would have sent him out on loan for another year [rather than sell him].\u201d<\/p>\n
Palmer, who is now hot on the cross-sights of\u00a0 Real Madrid, has become invaluable to a refreshed, resurgent Chelsea, who closed to within four points of Premier League leaders Liverpool with Sunday\u2019s convincing London derby win. Blues boss Enzo Maresca was quick again to hail Palmer\u2019s contribution following his two goals from the penalty spot, saying: \u201cI know Cole from time ago, I really trust him in every aspect.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, he\u2019s a fantastic boy, a fantastic guy and then, as I\u2019ve said already many times, he has to learn. He is learning how to play the game when they mark him man-to-man. He is learning, he is improving, he is scoring goals, he is happy and we are all happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Well, looks like the great Pep Guardiola is human after all and prone to errors in judgement just like anyone else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"