Liverpool legend John Barnes’ surprising claim about Cole Palmer says, “Chelsea could be better off” without him
England legend John Barnes has boldly suggested that Chelsea might actually be a better team without star player Cole Palmer. This would be a surprising statement for many, as Palmer has been one of the Blues’ few bright spots in an otherwise disastrous season.
Since the transfer from Manchester City last summer for £42.5 million, he has scored 21 goals and assisted 13 times in 40 games. His performances helped Chelsea reach the Carabao Cup final and the FA Cup semi-finals, where they will face holders City on April 20 at Wembley.
The Chelsea superstar’s exploits won him his first England cap, and he will almost certainly be joining Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 squad. Despite Palmer performing decently throughout the season, John Barnes made the thrilling claim about the superstar.
Barnes’ thoughts on Palmer
Unfortunately, the 21-year-old’s efforts haven’t been enough to turn around Chelsea’s fortunes, with the team presently ninth in the Premier League, putting Mauricio Pochettino‘s job on the line. The England legend thought if someone else was playing at Palmer’s place, then they might have been able to turn around the Blues’ drastic situation.
Some have speculated that without Palmer, Chelsea would be in even worse shape, even fighting for relegation, but Barnes feels the squad might be fine without him, citing the examples of former Liverpool and Tottenham players. According to the reports, Barnes said:
“Well has anyone considered that if Cole Palmer wasn’t playing and someone else was, could Chelsea be better off? We don’t know. They could be higher up the league. It’s not a question of individual players where we say if he wasn’t playing Chelsea would be worse off because we just don’t know.”
“We do know he is playing well for Chelsea but remember when Coutinho was at Liverpool and he was their best player. Then Coutinho left and Liverpool became a better team. Look at Harry Kane when he left Tottenham. You could argue Tottenham are a better team without Harry Kane as good as Kane was.”
“We can’t say if Cole Palmer wasn’t there, Chelsea would be a worse team because they may have to play better as a collective team. However, Palmer is certainly having a great season at Chelsea.”
Liverpool transferred attacking midfielder Coutinho to Barcelona in January 2018, allowing their other attackers to thrive after spending money on Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker. They went on to win the Champions League and the Premier League.
Tottenham, meanwhile, has been largely unaffected by the sale of all-time leading goal scorer Harry Kane last summer, with the club looking very promising under Ange Postecoglou.
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Palmer has missed only one game for Chelsea since signing, which they won, but they have only won two of the five games in which he has not started. Chelsea still has a chance to qualify for Europe, despite their recent struggles, but they must win again, beginning on Monday night against Everton.