Chelsea let Cobham "wizard" leave for £0, now he's even better than Palmer

Chelsea have one of the finest academies in Europe, renowned for its depth and quality right down to the foundational roots.

An unrelenting production line has melded into a fearsome senior set-up that has enjoyed several decades as one of the most triumphant Premier League outfits of the 21st century.

Since the turn of the millennia, the Blues have claimed 21 titles, notably including five Premier League and two Champions League trophies. Homegrown superstars have been crucial throughout, with John Terry, Mason Mount and Reece James among the finest.

However, Chelsea also know when to pounce on an up-and-coming sensation from elsewhere. Take Cole Palmer. Todd Boehly bagged the Manchester City starlet for an eyebrow-raising £42.5m fee in August 2023 and they haven’t looked back.

In hindsight, an absolute bargain. Palmer is one of the deadliest players on the continent, but for the first time in his young and exciting career, he’s met with some measure of adversity.

Cole Palmer’s recent struggles at Chelsea

The 2024/25 Premier League season might belong to Mohamed Salah, but last year, Palmer was the talk of the town, a decade younger than Salah and in his breakout year too.

Palmer took English football by storm last season, carrying his form onto the international stage with the Three Lions and seeing his stock rise to almighty heights. Indeed, according to Transfermarkt, the 22-year-old is worth a whopping £107m.

Sure, he’s enduring a tough spell right now, but Palmer is still one of the best footballers to have graced Stamford Bridge in a generation, with Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher hailing him as “the best player in the Premier League” back in October.

Palmer’s errant finishing in recent weeks is likely a by-product of the sheer weight of responsibility he has carried since arriving in the capital. He’s missed a slew of chances across his ongoing five-match barren run in the Premier League, but form, certainly in this one’s case, is only temporary.

Chelsea may have beaten Southampton 4-0 in their previous Premier League outing, but The Athletic’s Liam Twomey singled the England superstar out for looking “jarringly out of rhythm.”

The linchpin, the fulcrum of all that is good within Chelsea’s attack, Palmer will be back. However, he still hasn’t quite reached the heights of last year, with a former Cobham reject actually outperforming him this season.

Chelsea reject has been outperforming Palmer this season

Chelsea have lost their fair share of academy stars over the years. Declan Rice, for one, has lifted a European trophy and become a £100m player at Arsenal.

But the man in question here is Michael Olise, a somewhat similar attacking player to Palmer. He was a sensation at Crystal Palace, almost every divisional rival pawing at him covetously before he moved to the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich last summer.

Hailed as a “wizard” of a playmaker by writer Muhammad Butt, Chelsea were certainly among that envious crowd, for Olise spent seven years at Cobham before being released as a teenager and joining Manchester City, then falling in with Reading, where he would make his professional debut.

While it’s not the fondest memory, Olise was indeed the centre of a gripping transfer saga last summer. Die Roten welcomed him to their ranks in July for about £50m but Chelsea and Newcastle United had previously been hot on his trail, with the Blues even granted an audience by Palace before negotiations broke down.

Now, each passing week must feel a sting to Chelsea’s hierarchy, for the right-sided forward has been a deadly and potent force in Vincent Kompany’s crew, firing 13 goals and placing 12 assists across 36 matches in all competitions.

While Palmer has outscored him this term – with 14 goals from 30 appearances – his creativity has taken a hit with Maresca at the helm. Only the six assists across all competitions for the England international so far, with three coming in that extraordinary win at Molineux in August.

This might feel nit-picky, but it is merely an attempt to highlight the level of attacking midfielder Olise is.

He is quite the player. As per FBref, Olise ranks among the top 6% of attacking midfielders and wingers across the continent for goals scored and shot-creating actions, the top 12% for assists, the top 2% for progressive passes and the top 11% for successful take-ons per 90.

This is a dynamic and deadly range that highlights the quality of a player who Chelsea clearly recognised their mistake in letting go and pushed to re-sign.

Now he’s settled into life at the Allianz Arena, who are sitting pretty at the top of the Bundesliga and meet Bayer Leverkusen in the last 16 of the Champions League this month, it doesn’t seem likely Olise will be heading off any time soon.

Former Bayern midfielder Owen Hargreaves has even gone as far as to say he’s the German side’s “best player” who could be “as good as anyone.” Sounds a lot like Palmer, in a way.

Obviously, there isn’t an attacking midfielder across the continent who Chelsea would swap Palmer with, such is his quality, but Olise’s success in Germany this term does underline the calibre of prospect who should have been kept on Cobham turf as he rose to the senior stage.

The fact Chelsea pushed to sign him before he left Selhurst Park last summer only corroborates that claim. Just imagine the level that could be reached were both talents wreaking chaos in Maresca’s system.

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