Cole Palmer: The two collapsed deals which sparked surprise Chelsea transfer | OneFootball

Cole Palmer has been Chelsea's leading light during a difficult period for the club, but it has now been revealed that the England star wasn't initially even considered ahead of his 2023 arrival.

Palmer made the £42.5m switch from Manchester City at the very end of the summer transfer window last season. He was the 11th permanent first-team signing in a two-month period.

At that point in his career, Palmer was still relatively unknown outside Manchester and had made all but three of his 19 Premier League appearances for City as a substitute.

ESPN has reported that Palmer was "not in Chelsea's transfer plans" until the final days of that window. It was only after the Blues had failed to understand the specific terms of Michael Olise's Crystal Palace release clause and moved too late for Mohammed Kudus as the Ghanaian joined West Ham United from Ajax that Palmer emerged as an option at all.

Michael Olise, now with Bayern Munich, was one of the players Chelsea failed to land / Luciano Lima/GettyImages

Palmer was in the midst of his own battle with Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, determined to get more first-team opportunities and eyeing a loan as the best way to achieve that. Guardiola wanted him to stay put at the Etihad Stadium or be sold permanently, with the player opting for the latter route and walking away from the club he'd joined at eight years of age.

EPSN adds that Brighton & Hove Albion and West Ham were both looking at a deal in the region of £25m, before Chelsea gazumped them both with £40m guaranteed and £2.5m in add-ons.

Ultimately, Chelsea were the huge beneficiaries. Palmer has won an army of worldwide fans for his deadpan humour and persona, as well as his signature goal celebration, netting 27 times in his debut campaign – his first meaningful season as a first-team player in his career – and providing 15 assists. Chelsea and England player of the year awards, as well as PFA's young player gong, followed.

Although Palmer has hit his real struggle since joining Chelsea in the early months of 2025, and is now nursing a muscle injury, he still has 20 goal involvements to his name this season.