Cole Palmer's £45m move to Chelsea is an eyebrow-raiser with Man City choosing to sell a starlet with bags of potential to a Premier League rival

It’s definitely an eyebrow-raiser. The fee. That the Premier League champions have sold a prized academy asset to a team who ought to be considered a rival.

Cole Palmer swapped Manchester City for Chelsea in a £45million deal. It came late in the window and has prompted much debate about the Chelsea project, Pep Guardiola, City’s balance sheet and the winger himself.

Joe Shields, co-director of recruitment and talent at Stamford Bridge, had first pushed the prospect a couple of months ago, trying to ascertain Palmer’s appetite. But it was only in the last few days of the window when Chelsea really accelerated their interest and they have played on circumstances up north.

Towards the end of last season, Palmer had privately been discussing going out on loan this year. 

Chances were sporadic as City won the lot and he had not kicked on as expected. Watching his peers flourish elsewhere, the 21-year-old just wanted to play.

The 21-year-old winger said he was 'excited to get started' in his new chapter at Chelsea

His career trajectory changed in Athens the other week. Not for what happened during the Super Cup final – Palmer was man of the match, scoring City’s equaliser against Sevilla before they won on penalties – but the story 24 hours earlier. Guardiola told the world that Palmer was not going on loan: he would either stay or leave permanently. The writing felt on the wall from that moment.

City had not yet signed Jeremy Doku by that point. Raw with bags of potential, Doku cost £55m from Rennes. Raw with bags of potential, Palmer is now on his way out.

He is unapologetically honest and said after winning another trophy that, ‘obviously the best scenario is to stay and play, but you know what the competition is like... if they bring someone in, I don't know.’

Doku arrived and off he goes. The destination is interesting. Guardiola prides himself on not standing in the way of players leaving, if they bring in reasonable offers from elsewhere, and proved last year with Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Oleksandr Zinchenko that the buying clubs don’t really matter. Once they are surplus at the Etihad Stadium, he doesn’t appear to care who takes them.

A big call by Palmer, though – even with a seven-year contract on a considerable uplift to his wages of around £30,000 a week. The departure is driven by minutes yet there cannot be a promise of guarantees in Mauricio Pochettino’s packed squad.

Still, this is a risk for City as well as Palmer. There will be coaches who are gutted by the developments, the guys who would regularly christen him ‘star of the session’ after training as he was coming through.

They knew that there was certainly something to work with from a City perspective with Palmer – and that he is no longer there is probably not seen as ideal for anybody involved – but that Guardiola did not offer him significant encouragement to stick around for a bit longer says a lot.

There will be some who do not think he’s progressed quickly enough, others wondering if he could have been afforded more sustained chances. Asking a kid to prove themselves in the domestic cup competitions and 20-minute cameos of league games already won is a big ask.

Palmer looked at the squad. Even before Doku, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden can operate out there, Kyle Walker has too as City tinker with formations. City are changing again, reshaping a light squad. 

Matheus Nunes will act as that midfielder they really needed, someone who is adept at driving with possession in a way that Mateo Kovacic has shown in glimpses already. City have looked as if they are happier going a little more vertical so far this season.

Guardiola always prefers a small roster and the numbers this term are broadly the same. Ilkay Gundogan, Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez (ironically Palmer’s biggest champion) out; Nunes, Kovacic, Doku and Josko Gvardiol in.

Including the stricken Kevin De Bruyne, that is 18 outfield players - 20 with youngsters Oscar Bobb and James McAtee. Sergio Gomez and Kalvin Phillips are in that number but barely feature, while McAtee is attracting interest from Sheffield United, Feyenoord and Leicester City ahead of the deadline anyway.

There is an argument that even from a numbers perspective they really could have done with Palmer but money talks. 

City have spent around £200m this summer, with more than half of that accounted for in sales. And let’s be honest: Guardiola rarely gets it wrong, does he? Selling someone as good as Palmer to Chelsea would matter more if he did.