Cole Palmer has revealed he wanted to stay at Manchester City prior to his transfer to Chelsea last summer.
The 21-year-old completed a £40million switch from the Etihad Stadium to Stamford Bridge on deadline day, where he has since gone on to shine under the guidance of Mauricio Pochettino, despite the clubs struggles as a whole.
Palmer has recorded an impressive eight goals and seven assists across his 21 appearances for Chelsea, with his strong performances also being rewarded on the international stage, with a first senior call-up to the England squad back in November.
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Despite the City academy product exceeding all expectations since arriving in London, Palmer had no intentions of leaving his boyhood club during the summer transfer window as he now reflects on the talks he had with Pep Guardiola five months ago.
"Initially I didn’t want to leave,’ he told the Daily Mail. "I said I would go on loan and play for a year so I was ready for first team football more because I didn’t play a lot of minutes [last season].
"But then Pep said 'you’re either staying or you’re getting sold' and, so yeah, I just got sold.
"I was a bit confused why they wouldn’t let me go on loan but [then] I said I wanted to go to Chelsea and I’m glad it’s turned out the way it has."
Speaking on the differences between the two clubs and the stages they are at, Palmer added: "One is a project and one has established players. Our project is a young project. There are a lot of young players and I thought I would fit the project well.
"I didn’t know what the personalities were like before I came so they could have many people that liked it [having responsibility] but I would have thought I’ve definitely got more responsibility than I got at Man City.’
Topics: Chelsea, Manchester City, Cole Palmer, Pep Guardiola
Patrick Rowe