Pep Guardiola insists he hasn’t been surprised by the way in which Cole Palmer has flourished at Chelsea this season.
The former Manchester City forward looked set to play a prominent role for his boyhood club this season after he starred in pre-season.
Guardiola, however, opted to cash in on the youngster who wanted a guarantee of regular first team football.
Chelsea’s scattergun transfer policy under the ownership of Todd Boehly has been anything but an unqualified success, but the purchase of Palmer represents arguably the signing of the season.
‘A lovely lad and he helped us achieve what we achieved.’
Despite languishing in mid-table, Guardiola is well-aware of the threat Chelsea pose to his side who took another step towards defending their Champions League title with a win over FC Copenhagen in midweek.
‘It’s an exceptional team in all department,’ said Guardiola. ‘One of the toughest games we have until the end of the season.
‘They’re [Chelsea] playing really good.
‘They have everything; intense, quality. Most teams are defined if they are not able to lose the ball and it’s difficult to find a player who can lose the ball.
‘We just need to win our games. When we arrive with eight or nine games [towards the end of the season] we will see how many teams will be involved.
‘It doesn’t matter if there are two, three or four, we just need to do our job.’
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