Ex-Manchester City goalkeeper David James insists that Pep Guardiola will have no regrets about allowing Cole Palmer to leave for Chelsea last summer.
The 22-year-old has subsequently gone on to win the PFA Young Player of the Year after an outstanding first season at Stamford Bridge but, speaking to safestcasinosites.co.uk, James claimed that the transfer has worked out for everybody involved:
“You can’t say that Pep Guardiola’s decision to sell Cole Palmer was the wrong one because City won the Premier League last season – they just keep winning trophies. If that wasn’t the case and Palmer was the difference between winning the title and losing it, then it becomes a different matter.”
“What I love about Pep, and you can tell that he genuinely means what he says about his former players because he loves football so much, is that he wants Palmer to be successful and have a great career. He wants him to have the opportunity to become an established Premier League star.”
“Palmer blossomed into one of the best players in the league last season, and he did that with Guardiola’s full blessing. That is what he would have wanted to see from his former player. I don’t think Pep could give him the assurances that he wanted in terms of his playing time, and he didn’t quite fit into the City set-up, so he was allowed to leave. Pep did the right thing by allowing him to go because his absence had no impact on City’s ability to win trophies.”
Palmer had an excellent campaign for Chelsea
You can’t say that the Cityzens have been better off without the winger, considering he scored 25 goals and provided 15 assists in his first season with the Blues.
As James points out, though, it is unlikely that Palmer would have been as successful if he had remained at the Etihad. There were plenty of players ahead of him in the pecking order.
City have other exciting players coming through the ranks
While fans will lament the fact that one of their own academy players has left and gone on to be so successful somewhere else, Guardiola has given plenty of opportunities to other youth team stars recently.
There is no doubt that Oscar Bobb would have started the campaign as first choice if he hadn’t picked up an injury last month.
Rico Lewis also seems to have established himself as a regular starter, while both James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly are expected to be given minutes by Guardiola too.
Find out who is in Manchester City’s first-team squad for the 2024/2025 season here
