Chelsea could face a future battle to keep Cole Palmer after Graeme Souness backed the Blues superstar to make an incredible record move to Real Madrid next summer after a big claim was made about the playmaker when compared to Mo Salah.
Palmer moved to Chelsea in what has very quickly looked a bargain £42.5m fee last summer after his failure to get past Kevin De Bruyne and claim a regular shirt in the Manchester City side. But while Pep Guardiola may now be secretly ruing a rare transfer mistake, the 22-year-old has gone from strength to strength and is already on six goals and five assists from nine appearances so far this season.
That takes his tally to an outrageous 31 goals and 20 assists from just 54 appearances for the London side and with Palmer now regarded by many as the best player in the Premier League.
Liverpool icon Souness, though, does not think Chelsea will get to enjoy his talents for long, revealing that he can see Real Madrid signing the player in a British record £150m deal before too long.
“I’m sure there are other players Man City could have cashed in on,” Souness told the Daily Mail when discussing if City now regret his sale.
“Chelsea paid £40m for Palmer but if Real Madrid come knocking next summer and he is still at the level he is showing, I would not be surprised if they got an offer of £150m for him.
“He’s a young man, so we’re going early on this call, but if this is Palmer’s level and he can be consistently this good, he’s going to be a top man.
“He has got silky skills, athleticism and a fabulous football brain. There’s simply nothing to dislike about him. He’s 22. At that age, no one ought to be that good.”
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Gary Neville draws Mo Salah comparison to Cole Palmer
Palmer recently made history when he became the first player to score four goals in the first half of a Premier League game when the Blues recorded a 4-2 win over Brighton at Stamford Bridge.
Asked if Palmer can now rightfully claim to be the Premier League’s best player, Gary Neville told NBC Sports: “He’s not far off! I have to say that I was surprised last season.
“‘I remember when Mohamed Salah scored those goals all those years ago and I thought, ‘He won’t repeat that in the second season, he won’t repeat that in the third season’, and Cole Palmer is just going and completely shocking me in terms of what he’s delivering.
“I can’t believe the level that he’s getting to and to think that he wasn’t playing for England in the European Championship in the summer now just seems absolutely ridiculous.
“And it seems even more ridiculous that Manchester City, who have been unbelievable in the transfer market, have let one of their own go.”
Chelsea join hunt for €50m Liverpool target / Maresca intent on selling duo
Elsewhere, Chelsea will reportedly make Borussia Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi a major target in 2025 as they look to add a more deadly edge to their attack under Enzo Maresca.
The Italian seems settled on his favoured front four with Nicolas Jackson, Palmer, Jadon Sancho and Noni Madueke seemingly first choice. But the addition of a new striker remains on the agenda ahead of the January window and amid ongoing links to Victor Osimhen and Victor Boniface.
However, the latest reports claim they are also tracking Adeyemi with the Germany forward currently in a rich vein of form and having also attracted attention from Liverpool.
Meanwhile, Maresca is seemingly determined to move on those players who do not figure in his thinking and it’s claimed they will step up efforts to move on both Ben Chilwell and Carney Chukwuemeka in January.
The pair were linked with summer moves away, and while no transfer materialised, the fact they are yet to clock up a single minute of Premier League action between them means the Blues are more determined than ever to move the pair on.
Atletico Madrid are being linked with a move for Chilwell as they look to reunite the England international with Conor Gallagher, while Chukwuemeka is being tipped for moves to a pair of Premier League sides, having also been linked in the summer.
Real Madrid’s top 10 most expensive signings of all time
Real Madrid are no strangers to raiding Stamford Bridge, with Eden Hazard still their most expensive signing of all time, having made the move to the Spanish capital in summer 2019.
However, the move to the Bernabeu did not prove successful, with the Belgian limited to just 76 appearances and a modest seven goals before he retired just a few months after leaving the Spanish giants at the end of his contract in October 2023.
They have had more success in recruiting Antonio Rudiger as a free agent and in their 2018 capture of Thibaut Courtois for some £35m.
However, if Palmer is to become the latest Chelsea man to make the move, Souness believes it would be for the biggest fee yet.
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