Chelsea star Cole Palmer could become the first player to cost £200m after his stunning rise, as Jaap Stam questions why Manchester United did not sign him as a youngster
Cole Palmer is being backed to become football’s first £200million transfer with the Chelsea star continuing his rise.
And Manchester United legend Jaap Stam reckons it was an opportunity missed for his former club not to spot the boyhood fan’s talent from a young age.
Instead Palmer ended up at neighbours City, where he broke into Pep Guardiola’s first team before joining Chelsea at the start of last season. Since then the England international has become one of the Premier League ’s best players and Stam reckons the sky is the limit.
“Seeing the potential of Palmer and him being just next door, you do wonder how Man Utd missed out on him, or maybe they did try and couldn’t get a deal over the line,” he told SportsLens. “It would still be great to see him at Man Utd and being a fan of the club he would probably like that to happen as well.
“However, in his current form there might not be any clubs who can afford him. He might one day be worth £200million the way he is going.”
The current record fee is the £198m paid by Paris Saint-Germain to sign Neymar from Barcelona, while United do not currently have anywhere close to such a figure for the Blues’ most prized asset.
Palmer scored another stunning goal against Fulham on Boxing Day for Enzo Maresca’s side – only to see Fulham score twice late on to produce a shock win at Stamford Bridge. That vindicated Maresca’s claim that his team should not be considered title contenders as they fell seven points behind Liverpool with an extra game played.
“It’s a bad feeling. When you cannot win, it is important you do not lose. We conceded too many transitions. We gave them energy. It’s a shame,” the Italian said.
“One of the things that we could do better is the game management. Fulham are a team that if you want to attack quick it becomes a basketball game and it’s not for us. We have to control it better.
“I said the same when we win a game. I said not because we win tonight we are ready and not because we lose tonight. It’s more the feeling we have inside and the reality we have inside that we can do better. One of the things is game management.”
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