Chelsea ace Cole Palmer might have made his name at Man City but he is a boyhood Manchester United fan, according to former Premier League defender Nedum Onuoha.
As painful as it may be for us Manchester United supporters to admit, it says a lot about the remarkable strength in depth available to Pep Guardiola that City can sell a talented if unproven youngster to another of the Premier League’s bonafide big hitters and watch him blossom into their most eye-catching performer almost immediately.
Todd Boehly may have chucked a billion into the Thames since taking over at Stamford Bridge but the £42 million acquisition of Cole Palmer at least feels like the rarest of beats. A Chelsea signing worthy of the investment.
Cole Palmer was a Manchester United fan
The England U21 international’s fourth goal in six top-flight starts as a Chelsea player came in the dying seconds of stoppage time against his former employers on a madcap Sunday of pure, unfiltered Barclays action. A goal made all the sweeter by the nature of his Etihad departure, and his boyhood allegiance to those in red rather than sky blue.
“I just think Cole Palmer will be desperate to do something in this game against City. Against his former team-mates and his former manager who let him go,” ex-City defender Onuoha told the BBC Sport before kick-off.
“And, this is the insight that I know, he’s a United fan as well!”
“I’ve got to address this, When Cole Palmer was at City, I thought he was good. But I was never fighting for him to be starting. And now I see Cole Palmer at Chelsea, and it makes perfect sense that he’s starting because he’s like the guy, do you know what I mean?”
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Of course, a move from City to United was never a realistic possibility, Red Devils fan or not.
But with Antony struggling for form and Jadon Sancho out of the team for very different reasons, Erik ten Hag could certainly do with a right-sided attacker in the sort of form Palmer is showing in a deeper hue of blue.
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