Manchester City must be accustomed to being told that they made a grave error by selling Cole Palmer, who has comfortably been one of the best players in the Premier League at Chelsea.
It was reported in August that Manchester City’s fear about Oscar Bobb is that they lose him to another club and have a situation identical to Palmer on their hands where he stands out somewhere else.
Palmer was compared to Kevin De Bruyne by Tony Cascarino, who feels City let a ready-made replacement depart the club in the summer of 2023.
Clinton Morrison raved about Palmer as “the best player in the Premier League” and highlighted that the Sky Blues must be scratching their hands at sanctioning such a world-class talent’s exit.
Cole Palmer has amassed the most goal contributions (50) since the start of last season, highlighting how much of a hit has been in a Chelsea shirt.
MORE MAN CITY STORIES
In the summer of 2020, Manchester City let another wondrous young player leave the club in Jamie Gittens.
The Englishman, who spent just two seasons in City’s academy was sold to Borussia Dortmund, where he became a first-team player in 2022.
Jamie Gittens of Borussia Dortmund dribbles with the ball during the Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern München at Signal Idu...
Photo by Rene Nijhuis/MB Media/Getty Images
Man City’s sale of Jamie Gittens is Cole Palmer 2.0 mistake
It’s safe to say that Gittens has managed to make a mockery of Manchester City’s decision to sell him.
The 20-year-old is having an excellent season for Dortmund, scoring five goals and providing three assists in nine Bundesliga starts.
After scoring in Borussia Dortmund’s 3-0 win against Dinamo Zagreb, Gittens also became the only English player aged under 21 to bag four goals in the Champions League since Alan Smith for Leeds United in the 2000/2001 campaign — as per OptaJoe.
The youngster has showcased for the German giants that he has all the traits to become an elite winger one day — searing pace, quick feet and a knack for scoring and creating goals.
This season, Manchester City’s top goalscorers in all competitions after Erling Haaland are Phil Foden, Matheus Nunes, Mateo Kovacic, John Stones and Josko Gvardiol, who have all scored just three goals.
Notably, City’s wingers in Savinho, Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish all have only five, three and two goal involvements respectively in all competitions as well.
Doku and Savinho, in particular are just 20 and 22 respectively and as a result, it would be wise if the Premier League champions were being patient with their progress. The Dortmund wideman, on the other hand has 13 goal contributions (nine goals and four assists) in total this season.
Considering Gittens is just 20 as well, Manchester City could have afforded the same level of patience with him instead of selling him just two years into signing him from Reading as a teenager.
Instead, City decided to jump the gun with the young left-winger and were forced to invest heavily into the market for both Savinho and Doku.
While the Sky Blues pair are top young players, so is Gittens and had he been kept, he perhaps would have acclimatised to Pep Guardiola’s demands and been ready for a first-team berth by now.
Similarly to Palmer, who has become a superstar at Chelsea, Manchester City’s lack of patience has come back to bite them and now, they find themselves in a situation where barring Haaland, they lack a true weapon in their front line.
GITTENS AT BORUSSIA DORTMUND
STAT PER 90 OVER THE PAST 365 DAYS
SUCCESSFUL TAKE-ONS 4.09
PROGRESSIVE CARRIES 5.89
NON-PENALTY GOALS 0.4
ASSISTS 0.71
TOUCHES IN ATTACKING PENALTY AREA 5.53
via FbRef
Gittens is only scratching the surface of his outstanding potential, with his statistics over the past 365 days indicating just how much of an upside there is to his game.
The Reading-born forward could well have competed for a starting place with Savinho or Doku or have even ousted Grealish in Pep Guardiola’s side by this point.
After all, Guardiola admitted his “mistake” about Grealish was not to have trialled him in midfield earlier after his recent display in City’s 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest.
Borussia Dortmund duo Nuri Sahin and Gregor Kobel rave about Gittens
Ahead of Borussia Dortmund’s upcoming clash against Barcelona, Nuri Sahin and Gregor Kobel were full of praise for Gittens.
'There is someone is coming!'
⚽️4 goals in #UCL
⚽️5 goals in #Bundesliga
🌟If not already, is Jamie Gittens the next English star at Dortmund after Jude Bellingham and Jadon Sancho?
Manager Nuri Sahin and teammate Gregor Kobel heaped praise on the former Chelsea and Man City… pic.twitter.com/5ex5x1xAgb
— Hayters TV (@HaytersTV) December 10, 2024
View Tweet
Sahin said via HaytersTV: “You see that he is growing as a person, which helps him a lot on the pitch. That Jamie cuts inside and shoots, I knew already for years but now, where he is making big, big steps is playing off the ball, defending, attacking the ball, pressing, these things help in his game.”
“And I always told him, the moment you get the taste of goals, you will never stop so I’m so happy for him and also for you guys, English football, there is someone coming.”
Kobel claimed: “I know him for a long time now since I’m here and of course, he’s still very young but you can see he’s maturing every, with the confidence on the pitch and the way he moves, the way he scores and I think he made some huge steps.”
“I think this is going to be keep on growing and I’m very happy for him and very excited.”
It is clear to see how highly rated Gittens is and Manchester City will be hoping that they do not live to regret their decision of offloading him.
But so far, all the signs suggest that the English juggernaut have made a huge mistake.
Related Posts