Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino admits that signing Cole Palmer from Manchester City was not his idea with “one of the sporting directors and owners” wanting the youngster.
The Blues signed Palmer from City on transfer deadline day for an initial £40m with Chelsea now taking their spending in the Todd Boehly era to over £1bn.
Palmer was expected to stay in and around Pep Guardiola’s squad this season or potentially go out on loan with the deal to Chelsea catching everyone by surprise.
When asked why he wanted Palmer at Stamford Bridge, Pochettino told reporters: “I think it was one the sporting directors and owners had the ideas to bring him to the squad, he fits the project but he is a good player.
“He comes because he expects to play more and be important here but he has seen Chelsea as a project and he can improve.
“The quality is there and the potential and he needs to prove and show he is better than his teammates.”
READ MORE: All the Premier League completed transfers in the summer window of 2023
On whether he will be giving the sporting directors a ring today, Pochettino replied: “We are happy with the squad, I don’t believe something will happen in the next few hours in terms of players in. We are always in contact. We need to keep energy for tomorrow. We have very good communication between owners and sporting directors. Waiting for thing to happen.”
When asked if Palmer will be their last transfer, the Chelsea boss added: “I think so. If something is going on I don’t know last time I spoke to the sporting director was 11 and they will communicate to me after the press conference if there is something.”
On his reaction to the club spending over £1bn in transfer fees since Boehly and his team took over, Pochettino continued: “Like I was telling you, buy and sell, I don’t know how much the club was selling.
“You can talk about being surprised about that or not. We need to evolve, football today is different, we manage different numbers. 20 years ago we think that this is going to happen maybe nobody believes.
“Today, I think it is normal this kind of money moving around, it is big business and we cannot stop. We all get the benefit. We are living on what this business produces. I am not here to give a lesson to anyone. It’s about balance. Chelsea is spending money but selling players.
“Always in that case people arrive in a club, in the Premier League like our owners it is normal. They want to develop the project and we are going to help them because we are professional in football giving our vision and advice. That is a special situation but the club keeping for years what they did in the past.”
