Chelsea attacking transfers “failed” Cole Palmer who “deserves better” – Thoughts from a year ago | OneFootball

We always like to look back on where we were a year ago – and in this case, things weren’t looking great.

The January transfer window had closed without the Blues making an attacking addition, while allowing Joao Felix to leave to AC Milan. Issues were compounded by injuries to Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu shortly after, forcing Christopher Nkunku into action in a position which didn’t suit him.

We pointed to a Henry Winter piece about how the Blues’ moves were letting down star man Cole Palmer at a key moment.

Palmer let down by Blues’ lack of attacking moves

Cole Palmer against Aston Villa. (Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images)

“Cole Palmer is a committed team player who gives everything for Chelsea but he could be forgiven deepening frustration for not having an elite centre-forward to work off and feed,” Winter wrote.

“Christopher Nkunku dropped deep into Palmer’s realm in the FA Cup loss to Brighton & Hove Albion. Nicolas Jackson is still young, 23, still improving but hasn’t scored in nine games. Palmer deserves better around him.”

It proved very prescient – Cole Palmer’s form, in part thanks to injury and in part thanks to Jackson’s departure, has never really got back to its 2023-2024 heights.

And are our attacking options really improved that much compared to a year ago? Felix, Nkunku and Jackson are out. Liam Delap and Joao Pedro came in, and Marc Guiu remains our third choice number 9.

In other news…

There were a lot of questions about Liam Rosenior when he was appointed as Chelsea manager, and he spoke about some of the doubts today. 

Rosenior also spoke at some length about the online mockery and the memes going round about him in the early days of his Chelsea spell. Win by win, they’re getting quieter. Let’s hope he gets another today.