Manchester City have been busy throughout the current transfer market, but this summer’s window has shown that the Premier League giants are still affected by a mistake they made in 2023.
The 2024/25 campaign was a very underwhelming one for everyone at Man City, and heading into the summer transfer window, Pep Guardiola wanted four to five new faces added to his squad.
The Manchester club achieved this by bringing in six, while there has also been a big focus on outgoings at the Etihad Stadium after Guardiola made it clear towards the end of last season that he does not want to work with a big group of players throughout the 2025/26 campaign.
It is here where Man City’s past trauma has been visible, with the Manchester club’s hierarchy showing that they are still affected by a mistake they made in 2023.
Cole Palmer doing his famous shiver celebration
Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images
Man City are still affected by Cole Palmer’s transfer to Chelsea
It is well known that Manchester City allowed Cole Palmer to join Chelsea during the summer of 2023 as part of a £42.5m deal, which has resulted in the midfielder going on to become one of the faces of the Premier League.
Man City didn’t even think it was worth including a buyback clause in Palmer’s Chelsea deal, as the Manchester club did not think it would be necessary, which has come back to bite them.
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That would have been very useful this summer as the Citizens looked to replace Kevin De Bruyne at the Etihad Stadium, but instead Man City pushed for Florian Wirtz before eventually landing Rayan Cherki as the Belgian’s heir, the first sign that they still regret selling Palmer.
The second came when Man City sold James McAtee to Nottingham Forest. Even though the Manchester club knew the Englishman was not going to be good enough to be a regular in Guardiola’s squad, they included a buyback clause in the 22-year-old’s deal, another clear sign of Palmer trauma.
This is also the route Man City chose to go down with Callum Doyle, who joined Wrexham this summer as part of a £7.5m deal; however, the transfer also included a buyback clause and a 25% sell-on clause.
The fourth came this week as Man City have made it clear to Tottenham that Savinho is not for sale, even if the North London club are willing to pay over £70m for the winger, which would see the Manchester club double their money on the Brazilian.
City have high hopes for the Brazilian, and their stance shows that they are wary of making the same mistake they did with Palmer in 2023, as this was an opportunity for the Premier League giants to make a big profit and bring in Real Madrid’s Rodrygo as a replacement.
The transfer of Palmer is an error that Man City would clearly love to undo, but it is not good that the club have allowed it to affect their transfer decisions two years on.
The transfer of Cole Palmer was not that big of an error
There is always a lot of talk around Man City’s decision to allow Palmer to join Chelsea being a massive error, but was it really?
There was no room for both the England star and Phil Foden in Guardiola’s team during the 2023/24 season, and although the Blues star went on to produce 27 goals and 15 assists during that campaign, the City midfielder won the PFA Players’ Player of the Year after winning the Premier League.
Palmer would have been a useful player to have last season, but after making a very quick start to the 2024/25 campaign, the Chelsea star has only scored once in the Premier League since January, and that was a penalty.
The 23-year-old has shone in the Europa Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup since, but that doesn’t justify the magnitude with which people speak about Man City’s decision to allow Palmer to leave, as if they have left a player with the productivity of Lamine Yamal to join their rivals.