Graeme Souness has criticised Chelsea’s decision to spend £42million on Cole Palmer after landing the Manchester City winger in a shock transfer deal. The 21-year-old, who started the season in fine form after netting in the Community Shield and Super Cup for his former club, was handed his Blues’ debut on Saturday as Mauricio Pochettino’s side suffered a worrying 1-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest.
Palmer came off the bench in the second half as Chelsea attempted to fight their way back into the spectacle but the Blues couldn’t find a leveller.
Instead, they have been left to lick their wounds after winning just one of their opening four Premier League matches.
Souness is less than convinced by the acquisition of Palmer as he believes it’s another example of Chelsea’s scattergun recruitment.
He told The Mail: “Chelsea’s decision to spend £42.5million on Cole Palmer, a 21-year-old with three Premier League starts, strikes me as strange and extremely bold.
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“It might all come together for Chelsea, who are spending a fortune on players of enormous potential who one day, with a big question mark attached, might be top men for them.
“Their supporters, like all others, want instant success. After a miserable season, they will have limited patience and won’t be slow in venting their frustration. I can see where they’re coming from.”
The deal was a bolt from the blue in the final days of the window as Palmer had initially looked set to stay with Manchester City despite previous interest from Brighton and West Ham.
But Pep Guardiola was unable to offer Palmer assurances of regular minutes had he remained at the Etihad Stadium and that effectively forced Palmer’s hand.
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Chelsea are evidently investing in the future but they need to get back into the Champions League if they do not want their excessive spending to catch up with them.
A top-four finish would now surely represent huge success for the Blues, who have flattered to deceive in their opening matches of the season.
Pochettino was critical of his side’s finishing after their defeat to Forest as he felt as though Chelsea created more than enough chances to win the match.
“Today we created chances, we dominated the game but in the end we were not clinical enough in the last third,” he said.
“We should have scored and we need to if we want to win, then we made one mistake and we conceded a goal.
“I am disappointed but not frustrated, because in this type of process obviously you need some luck in some situations. I don’t want to take credit away from Nottingham Forest because they knew how they should play.
“But we were not clinical in both halves. We made a mistake and we conceded and then you create many opportunities and we dominate, but it wasn’t perfect. We didn’t score and when you don’t score it is difficult to win games.
“The opening was positive, in the way that in the first 45 minutes we didn’t concede any chances, apart from one corner and one free-kick. And after they didn’t create too many things. But we need to be more clinical and more efficient to score goals and to win the game.”
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