Pep Guardiola has disclosed that he pleaded Cole Palmer to stay at Manchester City this summer before he moved to Chelsea in a £42.5m deal.
Eyebrows were raised when the Blues spent such a high amount to sign a player who was relatively untested but Palmer has greatly impressed for Chelsea.
The 21-year-old Englishman has been Chelsea’s standout player this season in an otherwise disappointing campaign for the club under Mauricio Pochettino.
Palmer has generated 23 goals and 13 assists in 38 games for Chelsea so far and Guardiola has been accused of being left embarrassed.
The City manager, speaking before his team’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea on Saturday, revealed that he was very keen for Palmer to stay at the club.
‘He wanted to leave for two seasons and I said, ‘No! Stay! Stay!’ – but he said, ‘No – I want to leave’ – what could we do?’ Guardiola said on Friday.
‘I said in pre-season, stay. He said he wanted to leave. What could we do? I said stay because Riyad [Mahrez] is gone but for two seasons he wanted to leave.
‘Performing at that level [he is now] is exceptional. He’s an outstanding player. I didn’t give him the minutes that maybe he deserved and now he has at Chelsea.
‘I understand completely. He’s a reserved guy with a lot of potential. It is what it is. He’s playing fantastic so what can I say, the decision has been made for many reasons.’
Meanwhile, Guardiola has fervently backed his City players after they exited the Champions League to Real Madrid.
‘You want to play 120 minutes how we played the last 80?’ he added. ‘Do you know which team we were facing?
‘Did you expect they wouldn’t have the ball or the opportunities to create that? And think we were going to win another Treble?
‘And next season another Treble? And win the Premier League by 20 points? It’s not true. The most unbelievable thing is that we competed as a team until the end.’
