West Ham manger David Moyes has revealed the club were close to signing Cole Palmer last summer before he opted to join Chelsea.
Palmer has been nothing short of a revelation since arriving at Stamford Bridge, quickly establishing himself as Chelsea’s main man.
The 21-year-old has scored 20 Premier League goals so far in a brilliant campaign, which has also seen him become a full England international.
West Ham were close to signing Palmer
Palmer has single handedly won games for the Blues this season, and it’s safe to say the club’s fortunes would have been vastly different without him.
Chelsea are preparing for Sunday’s visit of West Ham, and Palmer could have been lining up against the Blues with Moyes revealing he was close to signing the player.
“We were close, close”, Moyes told reporters.
“You can probably imagine the other part of it, where there was a possibility of somebody leaving here which might have made that work.
“I was in regular contact with his agent and we were well on the road with it but it just changed at the end and we couldn’t do it.”
Moyes added that he watched Palmer regularly for the England under 21s and had received advice from their manager Lee Carsley on the former City man.
“Lee Carsley, who was one of my ex-players [at Everton] as well and the England U21 manager, was always giving me advice on their players and Cole especially.
“He spoke so highly about him and what he was like. We knew he could play several positions and let’s be fair, he’s been a revelation this year for Chelsea.”
Palmer’s breakthrough season has surprised many, not least Chelsea fans who couldn’t have expected this in their wildest dreams, with the England international firmly in the race for the Golden Boot.
The Blues will need him to be at his best over the last four games if they are to overhaul Newcastle and Manchester United in the race for European qualification.
