Chelsea’s Cole Palmer raves about West Ham star he should really be playing with

And the very mention of his name makes West Ham fans shudder.

It may sound far-fetched now given where the Hammers find themselves and Chelsea’s steady rise, but Palmer should be playing for West Ham.

It’s the cold, hard truth, though.

Palmer’s stunning rise at Chelsea has left West Ham’s owners and vice-chair Karren Brady cursing what might have been over the last two seasons.

West Ham were heavily linked with Palmer in the summer of 2022 with Lucas Paqueta going in the other direction to Man City.

But it wasn’t just transfer rumour mill paper talk.

When it comes to Palmer, West Ham have have made the situation quite clear.

Brady has revealed the Palmer to West Ham rumours were true.

The Baroness said the Hammers had agreed a deal with Man City to sign Palmer.

Palmer raves about West Ham star he should be playing with

But the Blues swooped to snatch him away after Paqueta’s move was collapsed by the charges against him.

The rest, as they say, is history.

“From all the newsreels I’ve seen, Cole is as cool a dude in front of goal as Jimmy Greaves himself,” Brady said at the time.

“Which is probably why David Moyes tried very hard to sign him. We even had a deal agreed with City until Chelsea swooped.”

Brady was only telling half the story, though.

Ex Hammers boss Moyes went one further, revealing that the Palmer move was all but done as part of the deal which looked set to take Paqueta to Man City.

That was until it all collapsed when the FA announced its investigation into the Brazilian over alleged involvement in spot fixing.

“We were close, (very) close (to signing Palmer),” Moyes said before leaving West Ham last May.

“You can probably imagine the other part of it, where there was a possibility of somebody leaving here which might have made that work.

“I was in regular contact with his agent and we were well on the road with it but it just changed at the end and we couldn’t do it.”

The prospect of Palmer linking up with the likes of Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus is a mouth-watering one.

What might have been for West Ham – or Chelsea

And not just for West Ham fans.

Because Palmer has raved about a West Ham star he should really be playing with.

Had it not been for the FA charges, Palmer would be playing his football at the London Stadium.

How long the Hammers would have been able to hold on to him for is another thing.

But he would have been in good company. Or ‘very, very good’ company because he rates one West Ham player extremely highly indeed – the Hammers’ star boy Kudus.

In a feature with Sky Sports, Palmer was asked to rank the three most skilful players in the Premier League – besides himself of course.

He chose West Ham star Kudus, Palace’s Eberechi Eze and ex Man City academy graduate Phil Foden.

And Palmer was buzzing at the mere mention of Kudus’ name.

Chelsea’s Palmer loves Hammers ace Kudus

“Kudus is very good, like very, very good,” Palmer said unprompted when deliberating his picks.

“Just on skills, I’ll put Kudus third..

“(But) I like everything (about Kudus’ game). He’s fast, strong, technically good.

“Yea I think he’s a very, very, very good player.”

It says a lot that a player of Palmer’s quality rates Kudus.

Not only could he be forging one of the most fearsome forward lines around with Kudus at West Ham, it might have even been on the cards at Chelsea too.

Because the Hammers actually beat Chelsea and Brighton to the signing of Kudus.

Unfortunately, unlike Palmer, the Ghanaian has struggled to hit his peak form with the Irons this season.

It has showed in West Ham’s performances and results.

Now it is up to former Chelsea boss Graham Potter to start getting the best out of a player clearly rated by his peers.

Statistics showed Julen Lopetegui was criminally wasting one of the world’s best talents in Kudus this season.

West Ham’s fans and board will be hoping Potter can work his magic on their most individually gifted player.

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