“Man of my word”- Ligue 1 defender reveals reason for not re-joining Chelsea in January

Transfer News: Emerson Palmieri reveals why he decided to stay at Lyon in January despite Chelsea interest

According to @bluefooty via Fabrizio Romano, Emerson Palmieri revealed the bold reason behind his decision to stay at Lyon despite interest from Chelsea. 

Emerson Palmieri joined Lyon on loan from the Blues last summer, and since then, he has been one of the crucial members of Peter Bosz’s squad. So far, he has made 24 appearances for the Ligue 1 side, helping his team mount a challenge for the UCL spots.

Even though Chelsea were flying at the start of the current season, the situation dramatically changed after a serious injury to first-choice left-back Ben Chilwell. After the Englishman’s injury- one which rules him out for the rest of the campaign- Tuchel’s side attempted to recall Emerson from France.

Chelsea made several attempts to bring back the 2020 UEFA Euros winner with Italy. However, after the French team rejected their third offer, they realised that the Italian wasn’t coming back.

Thomas Tuchel even publicly revealed last month that they could attempt to bring him to Stamford Bridge, which just underlines our desperation when it came to recalling the Italian international. 

In a recent interview, Emerson revealed why he chose to stay back in France. He suggested that he wanted to keep the promise he made to sporting director Juninho about his commitment to the team for the season. Chelsea fans can have no qualms with Emerson regarding this, considering he is just being a man of his word- an admirable quality to have in any player.  

“I did not return to Chelsea because I promised Juninho that I would stay for a season. I am a man of my word. I like being in Lyon, I want to be here”.

The 27-year-old left-back also suggested that he is enjoying his spell at the French club, but where he ends up next season is not his decision to make. It remains to be seen if he challenges Chilwell for a spot down that flank beyond this summer, given Marcos Alonso’s ageing body- or if he seeks game time elsewhere.

“For next season, hard to say because depends on the clubs, but I’m happy here”.

Chelsea could only call back Kenedy from his loan spell at Flamengo to cover for the injured Chilwell. We are yet to see the Brazilian back in action for us, which isn’t a surprise considering his lack of experience in a Chelsea shirt before this January.

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It is evident that Chelsea required quality reinforcement but January is long over and Chilwell may well be back in the summer. One lesson the club must learn from this ordeal is to now try to frame deals in such a way where they can have the upper hand when it comes to recalling a player mid-season.