Pep Guardiola’s brutal ultimatum to Cole Palmer’s Man City request before Chelsea transfer revealed

Cole Palmer has revealed Pep Guardiola forced his hand over deciding his Manchester City future before joining Chelsea last summer.

The 21-year-old made a late summer switch to join Chelsea in a deal worth in excess of £40 million on a seven-year contract with the option of a further year.

Palmer has made an impressive start to life down south in the capital, scoring eight goals and registering seven assists in 21 appearances under Mauricio Pochettino.

Despite Chelsea currently sitting in 10th place in the Premier League, Palmer’s summer move has worked out so far. It has seen him make his senior England debut after featuring in their 2-0 win over Malta in a European Championship qualifier at Wembley back in November.

Palmer’s switch came out of the blue as Chelsea made a late decision to try to swoop in for the former Man City star following a pre-season injury to Christopher Nkunku during their tour of the United States.

He is pleased with how it has all worked out, but Palmer has revealed the initial plan was to go on loan to play more first-team football. However, it was Guardiola who provided the attacker with an ultimatum.

“Initially I didn’t want to leave,” Palmer told the Daily Mail.

“I said I would go on loan and play for a year so I was ready for first team football more because I didn’t play a lot of minutes (last season).

“But then Pep said ‘you’re either staying or you’re getting sold’ and, so yeah, I just got sold.”

Palmer added: “I was a bit confused why they wouldn’t let me go on loan but (then) I said I wanted to go to Chelsea and I’m glad it’s turned out the way it has.”

He has quickly become a popular figure amongst the Chelsea supporters and Palmer puts that down to his contributions on the pitch.

“I feel like we are building a relationship so fast because of the amount of minutes they’ve given me, what I’ve done, scoring so many goals and assists,” Palmer added.

“The fans have taken to me well and I just like coming to training every day and going to Stamford Bridge.”