Cole Palmer: Chelsea complete £42.5 million deadline-day signing of England U21 star from Manchester City

Chelsea have signed Manchester City forward Cole Palmer for an initial £40 million fee.

Chelsea had been looking for an attacker since a long-term injury to new signing Christopher Nkunku meant that Nicolas Jackson was the only senior forward currently available to manager Mauricio Pochettino.

The London side have this summer sold Christian Pulisic, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Kai Havertz and allowed Romelu Lukaku to leave on loan as the Argentine oversaw the second transfer overhaul under owner Todd Boehly.

Chelsea confirmed the move in a statement on their official website, saying: "Chelsea is pleased to announce the signing of England Under-21 international Cole Palmer from Manchester City.

"Palmer has signed a seven-year contract – with a club option of a further year – at Stamford Bridge and will join up with Mauricio Pochettino’s squad ahead of our Premier League fixture with Nottingham Forest."

Palmer said: "I’m excited to get started and it feels great to sign.

"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."

Palmer impressed for City in the Charity Shield and the UEFA Super Cup in the early stages of this season but manager Pep Guardiola confirmed that the club had been considering selling him on a permanent deal.

The 21-year-old has been keen to get regular first-team minutes and he is now likely to do so given he will no longer compete with Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and others at the Etihad.

Since making his debut for City in 2020 he has 41 appearances, scoring six goals.

After winning the treble last season, Manchester City have seen Riyad Mahrez, Ilkay Gundogan and Aymeric Laporte go through the exit door, and now Palmer.

They have so far added Mateo Kovacic, Jeremy Doku and Josko Gvardiol.

Chelsea meanwhile have signed Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Axel Disasi, Lesley Ugochukwu, Robert Sanchez, Djordje Petrovic and Angelo, while also selling Mason Mount, Kalidou Koulibaly, Edouard Mendy and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

A number of players have also left on free transfers or loan deals, including Cesar Azpilicueta and Hakim ZIyech.

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