Cole Palmer could have ended up at a different London club last summer
David Moyes disclosed that if Pep Guardiola’s attempt to acquire Lucas Paqueta had not failed last summer, West Ham might have acquired Cole Palmer from Manchester City.
Palmer signed a £42.5 million contract in September to join Chelsea, who host the Hammers on Sunday. In what has mostly been a difficult season for Mauricio Pochettino’s team, the England forward has been by far the best player.
Since joining the Blues at Stamford Bridge, Palmer has scored 25 goals and provided 13 assists, but Moyes has disclosed how he might have ended up in east London.
While Moyes was interested in Palmer, City was keenly interested in signing West Ham’s Paqueta. The two teams nearly reached an agreement on Palmer’s transfer, but it fell through due to the Football Association’s probe into possible betting violations.
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When asked how close he was to reaching an agreement for Palmer, Moyes replied, “Close.” As you can probably imagine, there was a chance that someone might have left, which could have allowed that to work.
“I thought he was an exceptional player when I regularly watched him play for the England U21 team. I’m always eager to include players from Britain.
The fact that he played in the same position as Jarrod Bowen was the bigger issue. However, I considered Jarrod as a potential center forward.
“The England U21 manager, Lee Carsley, who was one of my former teammates, gave me a lot of advice about their players, but Cole in particular. He was very complimentary about him and his personality. We were aware that he could play a variety of positions, and to be honest, he has surprised Chelsea this season.
“I had regular contact with his agent, and we were making good progress, but something changed at the last minute, making it impossible for us to pull it off.”
Regarding if it has been difficult for Moyes to observe Palmer’s performance at Chelsea this year, the Scot responded, “No, managers always have a lot of near misses with players.”
You can probably recall a few players we discussed signing in the summer, but those plans fell through, and we could have taken a different approach. Being a manager is always the same—lots of near misses.
“He has performed admirably. He has been, truly. Given how excellent he has been, he has a good chance of winning player of the year.
