Gary Neville firmly believes the signing of Cole Palmer would be ‘gold’ for Manchester United, although he has serious doubts over Chelsea agreeing to a blockbuster transfer this summer.
The England attacker, who inexplicably missed out on a place in Thomas Tuchel’s squad for the World Cup, has been heavily linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge after claims he’s been unsettled in London and pushing for a return to Manchester.
The 24-year-old struggled with form and fitness in the first-half of the campaign, but still finished the season with 10 Premier League goals in a Chelsea side that endured a disastrous end to the campaign and finished 10th in the table.
Despite his issues, it’s not stopped interest in Palmer‘s services, with Man Utd and Man City emerging as two possible destinations for the attacker, who remains a United supporter.
While his stock has fallen, a recent report in The Sun claimed that new Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso could sacrifice a top star this summer, with the starting point for any Palmer offers now standing at a more reasonable £80million. That’s £70m less than the £150m that was being mooted last summer.
With that in mind, Neville has debated the merits of United moving for a player who would be ‘gold’ at Old Trafford, and a similar signing to the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney and Roy Keane.
“When Manchester United signed Bryan Robson, Ron Atkinson said something along the lines of ‘this is no risk, this is gold’,” Neville said on Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel.
“I think Harry Kane would have been that for United, that would have been gold. You [Ferdinand] joining from Leeds, Wazza [Rooney] joining from Everton, Roy Keane from Nottingham Forest – those are all gold.
“Declan Rice was the same before he joined Arsenal. They’re absolute guarantees, they’re certainties and in the end they will look cheap.
“If Sir Alex Ferguson was still in charge of Man United he would never have allowed Harry Kane to be anywhere else, he would have made sure he came to Old Trafford.
“Declan Rice would have been the same. Sir Alex would have been all over those two.
“It’s not about just signing English players because look at Robin van Persie – he was established in the Premier League and you knew he was going to deliver for you.”
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Neville casts doubts on Man Utd, Palmer signing
While Neville was impressed with United’s transfer business last summer, he thinks the chances of convincing Chelsea to actually part ways with Palmer are pretty slim – even with a new manager now at the helm.
The Old Trafford legend added: “I do like the signings of [Matheus] Cunha and [Bryan] Mbeumo last summer because they’ve had that grounding in the Premier League.
“They weren’t ‘gold’ but there was a removal of risk because they’d played in the Premier League and they were stepping up a level and they were young and hungry.
“Those type of signings are good. There’s talk of Cole Palmer and that looks like a signing that could be gold for Manchester United if he came to Old Trafford.
“I don’t think it would happen though, I think Chelsea will hang onto him. But there’s very few signings like that available, it’s only every few years that these type of players become available.”
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