Gabriel Agbonlahor claims £45m player would walk straight into Chelsea’s starting XI

Add as preferred source on Google

Gabriel Agbonlahor believes Cole Palmer would walk straight into Chelsea’s starting XI.

Blues fans are now waiting to hear an official announcement that confirms Cole Palmer, 21, has left Manchester City to join Chelsea.

There’s still time for dramatic late twists in a crazy transfer window, but the speculation in the media is that this deal is imminent.

Journalist Fabrizio Romano reported on X yesterday that Chelsea have reached an agreement with Man City to sign Palmer in a transfer worth £45million in total. In addition, The Evening Standard claims that the England Under-21 international is having his medical on Thursday before completing the switch to Stamford Bridge.

TalkSPORT pundit Agbonlahor has given huge praise to Man City’s rising star for chasing a move elsewhere to play regular football. He’s confident he can obtain that at Chelsea, too.

“I think it totally makes sense and it shows he wants to play. He doesn’t want to just sit there and play the odd game for Man City,” Agbonlahor told talkSPORT.

“He walks into that Chelsea side. You look at Chelsea they played a 5-3-2, he fits in as one of the three with Enzo [Fernandez] in front of [Moises] Caicedo. Or he can play in a 4-3-3. Palmer in the right, [Raheem] Sterling on the left, [Nicolas] Jackson down the middle.

“He knows he’s going to be starting games, guaranteed football, Pochettino is a great coach. If I’m Cole Palmer it makes sense.”

In fairness, Chelsea’s forward positions are still up for grabs for any player that can consistently perform and weigh in with goals.

Palmer looks very sharp as a right-winger whenever he plays in Man City colours, but breaking into the XI at the Etihad Stadium is one of the toughest assignments in club football right now. It’s worth highlighting he can play in a central No 10 position behind a striker, too.

If Mauricio Pochettino wants to go back to a 4-2-3-1 system, Palmer definitely has the quality to compete for a permanent spot in one of the front four positions.

The biggest uncertainty with the youngster is can he perform consistently at the highest level? He may be about to get that opportunity in west London.