Brighton & Hove Albion manager, Roberto de Zerbi, has revealed that they were trying to sign Chelsea star Cole Palmer last summer. He claims that they believed he would be a top player and made a move.
However, Brighton could not get the move done as they failed to reach an agreement with Palmer and Manchester City. The Seagulls have been praised in the past for spotting talents early and making a move for them before the big clubs.
De Zerbi was talking in his pre-Chelsea press conference today and when he said:
“We tried to bring him last summer. We thought he could be a top player. The qualities of Palmer are clear. This season he is playing very well, scoring a lot of goals.”
Cole Palmer has been in red-hot form and has been Chelsea’s best player since moving for £42.5 million from Manchester City. He has scored 24 times and assisted 14 goals for the Blues this season.
Cole Palmer Transfer: West Ham United were also keen on Chelsea star
Brighton & Hove Albion are not the only side who were keen on signing Cole Palmer last summer before his move to Chelsea. West Ham United were also keen on the Englishman and David Moyes confirmed they held talks.
The Scottish manager, who is set to leave at the end of the season, revealed that he is in direct contact with the player’s agents but could not get the deal over the line. He said:
“You probably can imagine the other part of it, there was maybe a possibility of somebody leaving here which might have made that work. I watched him playing for England U21s regularly and I thought he was a standout player. I’m always keen to bring in British players. The bigger problem was he played in the same position as Jarrod Bowen as well. But I had the thought about Jarrod becoming a centre forward.”
Moyes added:
“Lee Carsley, who was one of my ex players, the England U21 manager was also giving me lots of advice on their players but Cole especially. He spoke so highly about him and what he was like. We knew he could play several different positions and, let’s be fair, he’s been a revelation for Chelsea this year. I was in regular contact with his agent, we were well on the road with it but it just changed at the end and we couldn’t do it.”
Cole Palmer managed just 6 goals and 2 assists in his 41 senior appearances for the Manchester City under Pep Guardiola.
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