Chelsea have bolstered their attacking options by completing the initial £40m signing of Cole Palmer from Manchester City, who in turn have added Matheus Nunes from Wolves for £53m to their squad, the midfielder becoming the champions’ fourth major summer signing.
Palmer became the 13th player to move to Stamford Bridge this transfer window as the winger signed a seven-year deal with the option of an extra year. The deal is a boost for Mauricio Pochettino, who has been pushing Chelsea to buy an attacking player since losing Christopher Nkunku to a long-term knee injury last month. Chelsea are also without Mykhaylo Mudryk and Carney Chukwuemeka for Nottingham Forest’s visit on Saturday.
Pochettino’s preference was to bring in a forward capable of playing in a variety of roles. Palmer fits the bill: a left-footed talent capable of playing on the right wing and through the middle. He needs regular football and his sale will strengthen City’s financial fair play position. Money received for academy products counts as pure profit in FFP terms.
Chelsea have moved quickly to sign Palmer and have agreed to pay £40m plus £2.5m in add-ons. The 21-year-old had hoped to earn more opportunities at City following Riyad Mahrez’s move to the Saudi Pro League. Palmer made an encouraging start to the season, scoring against Arsenal in the Community Shield and Sevilla in the Super Cup, and he played a pivotal role in England Under‑21s’ triumph at their European championship this summer.
“I’m excited to get started and it feels great to sign,” said Palmer. “I’ve joined Chelsea because the project here sounds good and because of the platform I will have to try to showcase my talents. It is a young and hungry squad and, hopefully, we can do something special here.”
Chelsea’s willingness to sell academy players saw them agree a deal for Ian Maatsen to join Burnley on loan with an obligation to buy the left-back for £31.5m plus add-ons. However the deal was left in doubt byMaatsen’s reluctance to join the club he represented on loan last season. The 21-year-old is admired by Mauricio Pochettino and wants to fight for his place at Chelsea, who were willing to move the defender on after failing to agree a deal to loan Marc Cucurella to Manchester United.
Chelsea also relented on their refusal to loan Trevoh Chalobah to Bayern Munich, having previously insisted that the defender would only be allowed to leave on a permanent deal. They sent a loan agreement to Bayern on Friday afternoon, only to receive no reply from the German champions. Bayern were trying and failing to complete a deal for the Southampton defender Armel Bella Kotchap. Nottingham Forest and submitted a £25m bid for Chalobah, who was reluctant to move to the City ground.
Conor Gallagher was also waiting to find out if Chelsea would accept an offer for him. Tottenham were weighing up a late bid for the 23-year-old midfielder. Elsewhere Chelsea sold Callum Hudson-Odoi to Nottingham Forest for £8m and loaned their young striker Mason Burstow to Sunderland and the promising centre-back Bashir Humphreys to Swansea.
Nunes, meanwhile, has signed a five-year contract at City and joins the defender Josko Gvardiol,the midfielder Mateo Kovacic and Jérémy Doku, a wide player, as summer acquisitions.
Nunes said: “I’m so happy to be joining Manchester City, the champions of Europe and a club I’ve admired for a long time. The opportunity to work under Pep Guardiola, one of the greatest managers ever, and alongside some of the best players in the world was something I simply couldn’t turn down.” The 25-year-old’s transfer follows Nunes’s refusing to train at Wolves to force the move through. Meanwhile, Manchester City fullback João Cancelo was close to joining Barcelona on a season-long loan
