Cole Palmer remains £42m Man City success story rather than mistake before Chelsea visit
Cole Palmer remains £42m Man City success story rather than mistake before Chelsea visit
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Cole Palmer remains a Manchester City success story. The 22-year-old will be one of four former City youngsters in Chelsea’s squad for Saturday’s Premier League meeting at the Etihad, alongside Jadon Sancho, Romeo Lavia and Tosin Adarabioyo. And while it is easy to remark upon how badly Pep Guardiola could have done with the Premier League’s maverick-in-chief during this season’s injury crisis, the reality is Palmer remains the clearest evidence there is of a thriving underage setup.
Letting him go early last season was an unquestionable mistake in isolation but it is wise to look at the wider picture here. He was a player with plenty of potential that was not being entirely fulfilled when Guardiola waved goodbye and the club accepted £42m in pure profit - a sizable sum when it comes to the newfound wariness of profit and sustainability regulations.
And everyone, apart from Palmer himself, has been blown away by his seemingly overnight growth into arguably England’s best attacker. But letting one slip through the net is simply the cost of doing business for a machine that has seen fees exceeding £170m earned for more than 20 academy players in the past three seasons.
Take team-mate Lavia as one of many examples. He joined Southampton for £10m with a 20 per cent sell-on that banked another £10m when he then moved to Stamford Bridge. Indeed Lavia is one of six to have moved to St Mary’s, who have paid City a combined £73m for Gavin Bazunu, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Sam Edozie, Juan Larios and Shea Charles in two and a half years.
