Do Manchester City regret letting Cole Palmer go?

For Manchester City, Cole Palmer’s move to Chelsea last summer and his resulting spellbinding form is an example of ‘It is what it is’.

It can be disappointing to see one of their own flourishing elsewhere, but no sense of regret can really enter into it. Palmer wanted out and City received a hefty fee of £42.5 million ($52.8 million at current rates) for him – which admittedly seems a bit cheap now.

City wanted Palmer to stay, that’s certainly true. After Riyad Mahrez pulled out of his pre-season tour of Japan and South Korea to complete a move to Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia, City called up Palmer, who was on holiday after helping England win winning the European Under-21 Championship a few days later. a few weeks earlier, to ask him to return to Manchester in time for the flight east.

There was talk of a loan move to promoted Burnley in the Premier League, but City ultimately assured Palmer he would get more minutes this season after limited playing time in 2022-23. However, Palmer had already decided he wanted to move on.

So could City have done anything differently to make him not want to leave? Maybe give him more games?

The simple fact is that, last season, Palmer had Mahrez and Bernardo Silva ahead of him in the pecking order on the right wing. That should speak for itself.

A big part of the reason Mahrez left was because of the competition for places on that side; he had played in important league and cup matches, but was annoyed at missing the biggest games of City’s season, including the Champions League knockout matches and the FA Cup final. Bernardo was the go-to man for those.

These selection decisions really hurt Pep Guardiola.

‘He’s always grumpy with me when he’s not playing all the time, he points out to me how grumpy he feels,’ City manager said after Mahrez scored hat-trick in FA Cup semi-final against Sheffield United, three days after being an unused substitute for the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Bayern Munich. Guardiola also said he “lost the battle to make him understand how important he is to the group”.

Mahrez, it should not be forgotten, was a key player for City who could usually be counted on to plug straight into the team and contribute to a goal or assist.

Palmer is doing it now, with the 21-year-old tied with Erling Haaland at the top of the Premier League goalscoring charts following his four-goal haul against Everton on Monday night. He is one of the big stories ahead of the FA Cup semi-final against City at Wembley on Saturday.

It’s easy to look at him now and see him as the perfect replacement for Mahrez, and that’s probably why people see his exit from City as a ‘mistake’.

Palmer has been so good that he is in talks to be named PFA Player of the Year. The favorite for this award is Phil Foden, who has been outstanding for City, particularly over the last two months, scoring hat-tricks against Brentford and Aston Villa, two decisive goals against Manchester United, one against Real Madrid and a winner against Bournemouth .

Foden has been in scintillating form in midfield, so much so that even neutrals are calling for him to be the lynchpin of Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the European Championship this summer, despite the importance of Jude Bellingham at Real Madrid this season. , and Palmer at Chelsea.

And yet… Foden was in a similar position to Mahrez last season: he was a regular starter, but he was not part of the strongest XI that Guardiola turned to for the biggest matches, like the two semi-finals of the Champions League against Madrid, the final of this competition against Inter Milan (he replaced the injured Kevin De Bruyne in the first half) or the final derby of the FA Cup against United.

Foden had some fitness issues in the second half of the season that held him back, but others were simply playing better than him, much like Guardiola’s preferences for these decider matches.

A year ago, Foden wasn’t seen as an option in the middle, leaving him to compete with Mahrez and Bernardo on the right, or Jack Grealish – the team’s key cog, especially in the biggest games – on the left . In the middle, his biggest “rival” would have been De Bruyne, whose quality speaks for itself. Ilkay Gundogan’s place was secured due to his defensive acumen and ability to help City control games, traits that Foden is only now developing.

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The bar is incredibly high at City, with even Foden and Mahrez not getting the opportunities they felt they deserved. So what chance did Palmer have?

City, of course, completed the treble last season, winning 18 out of 20 matches between late February and May, drawing the other two – a run which only ended once they got their hands on on the Premier League trophy. Then they got back into the habit of winning in both finals.

It was a pretty extraordinary feat of team management, even if it came at the cost of Palmer’s dissatisfaction.

Then there is the question of Palmer’s merits.

This is not a case of sour grapes from City’s point of view, as it was released by Athleticism Last February: Palmer had a few opportunities at the start of the season, but his level had dropped after an unfortunate injury he suffered in January 2022.

Guardiola regretted not giving Palmer more opportunities (Lindsey Parnaby/AFP via Getty Images)

Palmer was starting to make his breakthrough in the first half of the 2021-22 season, making a few appearances. With another opportunity to play in the FA Cup third round against Swindon Town, he decided to ignore injury. This, however, forced him to miss the remainder of the campaign, just as he was starting to look impressive.

A year later – midway through last season – you could tell his confidence had plummeted, and his body language reflected it.

As has become evident in recent months, body language is a huge thing for Guardiola, and months before Palmer was sold to Chelsea, there was already speculation that he could be loaned out to help rekindle his spark. It was even suggested that he suffered from the 2022 departure of Guardiola’s assistant Juanma Lillo, who had always pushed him to reach new heights. Lillo returned to City last summer, but by then the die was cast.

The run-in of the Premier League

Palmer played just 850 minutes for City last season, with his seven starts usually coming in cup ties or dead legs. It looks like a mistake in hindsight and he would have been offended to see others, like Sergio Gomez and Kalvin Phillips, replacing him in his place – but that would also have been the case for Foden, Mahrez and others if Palmer was came. lit in their place. It’s a delicate balance.

Last season’s Palmer was not the same proposition as today. He can argue that if he had had more of a chance he would have been, which may well be the case, but it’s not as easy to get into the City team as any other another Premier League team.

“After two or three seasons, he wanted more minutes than last season. I completely understand,” Guardiola said in February. “If Palmer had the minutes that I gave Phil (Foden) from the start, he would be there – but I didn’t give them to him. That’s my responsibility.

“Why? Because of Bernardo, Riyad, Phil. At that moment, I chose the others.

With a hat-trick in the bag and City fighting to follow up with a double this season, it’s hard to see too many holes in these decisions.

It’s easy to talk about “mistakes” and “regrets” and it’s certainly not an ideal scenario for City, but there is a mundane reality: the choices made were very understandable and everyone involved can be sure that They did the right thing at that time. the weather.

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(Top photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)