In other words, Palmer could finish this season, play another four and still from that point have as many years left on his contract as Bukayo Saka signed up to when “committing his long-term future to Arsenal” in 2023.
And yet here was the same Seagulls side, condemning Chelsea to back-to-back defeats in the space of six days across two competitions and two dismal performances, more or less shutting Palmer out of both games.
That would make Palmer prohibitively expensive to just about any club in England or Europe, hence the trend among players of that calibre towards running contracts down, as with Kylian Mbappe and his move to Real Madrid.
Patience has been called for by the manager but would appear to be in short supply: two months after the utopian embrace that followed a 5-1 drubbing of Southampton, chants of “We want our Chelsea back” dominated the second half at the Amex.
The arms go up, someone gets an earful and at full-time at the Amex Stadium, he was one of several players who had to be urged by coaching staff to acknowledge what remained of the travelling support, plenty having left once Yankuba Minteh put the seal on a 3-0 win.
