Chelsea, Manchester City in talks over Cole Palmer transfer (*UPDATE*: AGREED) — reports

UPDATE:

It would appear that we’ve pretty much agreed this in a few hours. Medical expected tomorrow (Thursday). Final fee of £40+5m, as per Fabrizio.

PREVIOUSLY:

As expected, Chelsea are making a strong push to sign one more attacking player before the transfer window SLAMS shut on Friday, and the latest and perhaps more promising approach has been made for Manchester City’s Cole Palmer.

The 21-year-old winger has been at Manchester City his entire life, and managed to come through their academy against all the usual odds. He’s even made over 40 appearances for the first-team over the past few seasons, but just as in the case of many of our homegrown stars, could possibly be open to leave for a different (better?) opportunity.

According to The Guardian, we’ve had a £35m bid rejected with City wanting £50, but remain in talks over a potential compromise. Follow-up reports expect that to occur around £45m, which isn’t much of a discount and is a fairly hefty investment. Joe Shields, who joined us from City by way of Southampton last year as a recruitment expert is said to be driving our interest (just as in the case of Roméo Lavia presumably).

Palmer a tall, left-footed winger who played a starring role in England’s U21 Euros victory over the summer, being directly involved in every goals England scored in the semifinal and final (1 goal, 3 assists), certainly fits the profile of the signings we’ve been making this year, so this is perhaps the most realistic avenue for us to explore in the next 48 hours then.