Did Guardiola make a mistake letting Palmer go?
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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sport Chief football writer Phil McNulty has been answering your questions on the weekend's football.
Victoria Gaskin asked: Hi Phil. Is it now increasingly clear Pep Guardiola made a mistake in allowing Cole Palmer to leave Manchester City for Chelsea.
Phil answered: I wondered when we’d get this one – and it is a question plenty are asking when they see Palmer performing so brilliantly.
On the surface it does look like a mistake because Palmer is performing in a way that would get him into any side in the country and £40m looks like a bargain.
The context here is that Guardiola has a track record of not keeping players who want to leave his club. The perfect scenario would have been to keep Palmer but Guardiola made it very clear, in his own words, that Palmer wanted to leave for two seasons so eventually he went.
Guardiola moves on from these situations very quickly. I'm not sure he does regrets – although I suppose City might now wish they had asked for more than £40m.
Chelsea, for their part, have been criticised and mocked for selling Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne, who developed into two of the greatest players of the Premier League era at Liverpool and Manchester City.
They might think getting Palmer for only £40m is their turn to get an incredible bargain.
Mick from Hampshire asked: Do you think Cole Palmer can improve as it’s hard to see how considering how good he is. Also does this mean he is now a must-start for England?
Phil answered: The great thing for Chelsea and England is that he is only 22 so there is plenty of room and time for improvement.
Palmer looks a class act, just oozing quality and a snip at £40m from Manchester City. Just imagine what he would command now?
England is an interesting one because Lee Carsley has so many options open to him and Palmer was injured for the last international break. We will see when they play Greece and Finland but he can do no more to state his case than what he is doing currently and he proved at Euro 2024 that he is a natural fit at international level.
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