Pep Guardiola Opens Up on Discussion That Led to Palmer’s Exit Before Man City vs Chelsea

• Manchester City and Chelsea will meet in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday
• Both sides drew their two Premier League games with an aggregate scoreline of 5-5
• Pep Guardiola was quizzed on former City's attacker Cole Palmer's move to Chelsea

Pep Guardiola was again quizzed on Cole Palmer leaving Manchester City to join Chelsea in the summer ahead of the FA Cup semi-final between the two clubs.

Palmer was City's academy product and had been with the first team for two years but surprisingly left the club last summer and moved to London for £42.5 million.

He has flourished under Mauricio Pochettino and is the team's best player, scoring 20 league goals to tie former teammate Erling Haaland at the top of the scorer's chart, per The Athletic.

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His performances have drawn multiple questions for Guardiola who has been constantly questioned on if he regrets letting the player go particularly after the departure of Riyad Mahrez.

Guardiola responds to Palmer questions

Speaking ahead of the FA Cup tie scheduled for Wembley Stadium tomorrow, the Spanish boss clarified situations surrounding the player's exit to Sky Sports.

“He’s an exceptional player when he was here. I said many times, I didn’t give the minutes that maybe he deserved and now he has at Chelsea. I understand completely,” he said.

“He’s a shy guy with a lot of potential. It is what it is. He’s playing fantastic so what can I say, the decision has been made for many reasons.

“He was asking for two seasons to leave and I said stay. He said he wanted to leave. What could we do? I said stay because Riyad is gone but for two seasons he wanted to leave. Playing at that level is exceptional.”

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City signed Jeremy Doku from Rennes for £55mil and the Belgian star has not quite settled in the team and surely is not having the type of influence Palmer is having at Chelsea.

The Blues will feel compensated after they let Kevin De Bruyne go as a youngster and he became one of the bests in the world at the Etihad Stadium.

Chelsea's alternatives to Palmer

Sports Brief reported on nine players Chelsea considered before deciding to sign Palmer on the transfer deadline day as the English youngster was not the first choice.

The other options either remained at their clubs or moved to other clubs but none is having a season as great as Palmer's or even as influential as the attacker.