West Ham United: Karren Brady shares transfer admission on Chelsea ace Cole Palmer
Karren Brady has revealed that West Ham had a bid accepted by Manchester City for Cole Palmer, only for Chelsea to land his signature first.
Palmer joined Chelsea from Premier League rivals City last summer for an initial £40million [BBC Sport], which has proved good value for money.
The England international has scored 20 goals in 27 top-flight appearances for the Blues – the joint-most in the division, level with Erling Haaland.
However, had David Moyes got his wish, Palmer could well have been a West Ham player.
In her column for The Sun’s print edition [20 April, page 69], United vice-chair Brady said of City’s decision to sell Palmer: “Financial rules on allowable losses may have played a part in the decision.
“Still, from all the newsreels I’ve seen, Cole is as cool a dude in front of goal as Jimmy Greaves himself. Which is probably why David Moyes tried very hard to sign him. We even had a deal agreed with City until Chelsea swooped.”
How much did Chelsea pay Man City for Cole Palmer?
It is easy with the benefit of hindsight to say West Ham should have gone all out to sign Cole Palmer last summer, but plenty of eyebrows were raised when Chelsea splashed out an initial £40m.
When you factor in the various adds-ons, which could take it closer to the £45m mark, the Hammers clearly did not fancy rivalling Chelsea any further for the talented attacker’s signature.
Palmer has been arguably the Premier League’s best player this season, though, and undoubtedly would have strengthened Moyes’ starting line-up.
West Ham are blessed with some very talented attacking midfielders of their own, not least Mohammed Kudus, Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen, but Palmer is more of a ruthless finisher.
The aim for the Irons now is to find another 20-plus-goal-a-season player this summer, and this time ensure the deal is not just agreed but also signed off.
In other West Ham news, a talkSPORT broadcaster has mooted “big” changes at London Stadium this summer.
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