West Ham had agreed a deal with Manchester City for Cole Palmer before Chelsea swooped, according to Karren Brady.
Palmer left City to join Chelsea in a £42.5million transfer in September and has been a revelation this season. The 21-year-old playmaker sits joint-top of the Premier League's goalscoring charts alongside his former City team-mate Erling Haaland, on 20 goals, and could come back to haunt his old side in the FA Cup semi-final between the two sides on Saturday.
He has been by far Chelsea’s best player this season, providing 23 goals and 13 assists in 38 games across all competitions. The transfer came as something of a surprise to some onlookers, who questioned the fee for a player who had shown plenty of talent but had been given little time to prove himself at City.
Yet West Ham vice-chairman Brady has now claimed that her side were also chasing Palmer’s signature before he joined Chelsea on deadline day. "From all the newsreels I’ve seen, Cole is as cool a dude in front of goal as Jimmy Greaves himself,” she wrote for The Sun. “Which is probably why David Moyes tried very hard to sign him. We even had a deal agreed with City until Chelsea swooped."
Palmer now has 11 goals and four assists in his last seven games across all competitions going into the FA Cup semi-final, having scored four times in his last outing – the 6-0 win over Everton in the Premier League. His outstanding form this campaign has prompted questions for Pep Guardiola about why he let him leave.
"He's an exceptional player. We knew this when he was here," the City boss said in his pre-match press conference. "He's a nice guy, a shy guy, with a lot of confidence, and he's playing fantastically well.
"He was asking for two seasons to leave. I said, 'No, stay'. But he still said, 'No, I want to leave'. What can I say? Cole is the decisive player of the season. Playing that level is exceptional. But we travel to Wembley looking to win this game, and see what happens."
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Palmer has been earning lavish praise from all parts recently, with Jamie Carragher suggesting he could win the player of the season award in the Premier League. "You can pick holes defensively in any goal, but this for me is absolutely sensational for as I said one of the best players in the Premier League,” he said during the Everton win. Gary Lineker was also full of praise. The Match of the Day host wrote on Twitter: “He’s exceptionally talented is Cole Palmer."
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