Cole Palmer: Why Mauricio Pochettino Did Not Want Chelsea to Sign Manchester City Starlet

• Mauricio Pochettino did not initially want Cole Palmer to join Chelsea
• Palmer left Manchester City to seal a shock move to Stamford Bridge this summer
• He is c currently Chelsea's third top-scorer behind Nicolas Jackson and Raheem Sterling

Mauricio Pochettino has been left shocked by the kind of impact Cole Palmer has had since joining Chelsea.

Palmer sealed a move of 45.5 million euros from his boyhood club, Manchester City, despite assurances from Pep Guardiola that he would receive more game time this season.

The 21-year-old has since made himself a regular starter in West London, starring in Chelseá's recent games with four goals and two assists in the Premier League alone. His last came in the form of a last-ditch penalty to rescue a point against his former side on November 12.

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However, as it turns out, Pochettino wasn't quite sold on the club moving in for Palmer initially, as captured by the Chelsea Chronicle. The Argentine manager was convinced that he had enough wide players at his disposal.

How Pochettino was convinced

It took the intervention of the head of recruitment, Joe Shields, to convince the former Tottenham Hotspur manager that Palmer was a player worth buying.

Palmer has grown at Stamford Bridge, capturing the interest of Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate, who recently gave him his first two international caps against Malta and North Macedonia.

The English forward will be hoping to lead his side in making amends when they face Brighton on December 3. The Blues fell to a heavy 4-1 defeat to Newcastle last weekend. They are 10th on the Premier League table.

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Top 10 defenders in the Premier League

The 2023/24 EPL campaign is only 12 games in, but defending seems to have taken a back seat, with only Arsenal and Liverpool averaging less than one goal conceded per game.

But amid that somewhat sorry statistic, there have been standout defenders of the season so far. Sports Brief takes a look at the top 10 defenders in the Premier League so far.