Manchester City are a club that is not used to making mistakes or falling short across all competitions in the way that they have done under Pep Guardiola this season.
The Cityzens won the last four Premier League titles and won the treble – the Premier League, the Champions League, and the FA Cup – in the 2022/23 campaign.
This season, however, City are 20 points behind Liverpool with 12 games left to play in the top-flight and they have already been knocked out of the League Cup and the Champions League.
As aforementioned, Manchester City are not used to making recruitment errors but some of their decisions in the last few transfer windows should be questioned, going back to when they decided to cash in on Cole Palmer in the summer of 2023.
Chelsea swooped in to sign the Cityzens academy graduate for a reported fee of £40m, with £2.5m in add-ons, ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, and he has gone on to become a star in the Premier League.
Manchester City's Cole Palmer mistake
The England international’s soaring market value and incredible form on the pitch in the top-flight suggests that City and Guardiola made a big mistake when they allowed him to move on from the club.
At the time of writing, Palmer is currently valued at a whopping €130m (£108m) by Transfermarkt, which is significantly more than the initial £40m the Sky Blues raked in for him around 18 months ago.
Phil Foden (Man City)
£116m
Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
£108m
Michael Olise (Bayern Munich)
£54m
Jeremie Frimpong (Bayer Leverkusen)
£41m
Jamie Gittens (Borussia Dortmund)
£41m
Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa)
£33m
Romeo Lavia (Chelsea)
£33m
Rico Lewis (Man City)
£33m
As you can see in the table above, the Chelsea star is the second-most valuable former Manchester City academy graduate actively playing, only behind current Cityzens star Phil Foden.
Interestingly, Lewis and Foden are the only two of the eight most-valuable graduates who are still at the club, which suggests that City have fumbled several supreme young talents.
Palmer’s form for Chelsea may be particularly frustrating for the club, though, as he has starred in the Premier League, whereas the likes of Gittens and Frimpong are currently playing in the Bundesliga.
The English magician has racked up a staggering 39 goals and 21 assists in 74 appearances for Chelsea as an attacking midfielder, which shows that he has the quality to make a huge impact at the top end of the pitch on a consistent basis.
City’s decision to sell Palmer was a big mistake, given his incredible output for the Blues, and that opinion is further validated by his form in comparison to Foden this term.
Phil Foden's declining form
The two Manchester City academy graduates won the top awards in the Premier League in the 2023/24 campaign. Palmer won the PFA Young Player of the Year trophy and Foden was named the PFA Player of the Year.
City’s number 47 enjoyed a terrific season as he ended the year with an exceptional return of 19 goals and eight assists in the Premier League, which led to his peers voting him as the best player in the division.
Unfortunately, Foden has been unable to maintain that impressive form heading into the current campaign and has been outperformed by Palmer in the top-flight.
Appearances
26
21
Goals
14
7
Big chances created
19
7
Assists
6
2
Key passes per game
2.7
1.8
As you can see in the table above, the Chelsea wizard has significantly outperformed his former teammate as both a scorer and a creator of goals, further illustrating the error City made by cashing in on him in 2023.
This suggests that Guardiola would have had an even bigger talent on his hands if he had not green-lit the academy graduate’s move to Stamford Bridge in 2023.
Where Are They Now
Palmer, however, is not the only former Manchester City star who is outperforming Foden this season, as Guardiola appears to have repeated the mistake he made with the left-footed ace with the sale of Julian Alvarez last year.
Julian Alvarez's form this season
The Argentina international moved on from The Etihad last summer when Atletico Madrid swooped in to secure his services for a reported fee of £82m, which was – at the very least – a significant fee in comparison to Palmer’s £40m move to Chelsea.
Alvarez was an important player for City, though, and was described as “almost undroppable” by Guardiola in the 2023/24 campaign, in which the forward racked up 19 goals and 13 assists in all competitions.
They seemingly decided that they would be fine without his considerable contributions in the final third, however, as they allowed him to leave and did not sign a direct replacement for him last summer.
The decision to move on from Alvarez was a repeat of their Palmer blunder because he has been in fantastic form for Atletico Madrid this season and has, as the Chelsea star also has, outperformed Foden.
Starts
20
8
xG
7.44
2.19
Goals
9
6
Minutes per goal
186
97
Big chances created
5
2
Assists
2
1
As you can see in the table above, the 25-year-old sensation has caught the eye as a ruthless finisher, outperforming against his xG, in LaLiga and the Champions League for the Spanish giants this term.
He has racked up 23 direct goal contributions (19 goals and four assists) in all competitions for Atletico, which is eight more than Foden (ten goals and five assists) has managed for City this term.
Therefore, Alvarez has outperformed Foden at the top end of the pitch this season and he could have stepped up as a key player once again for City if they had not moved on from him last summer.
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Manchester City should allow the forward to move on from the club in the summer.
2 ByDan Emery
Guardiola repeated his Palmer mistake by deciding to cash in on a fantastic player who could have starred for Manchester City if they had remained at The Etihad, instead of being ruthlessly ditched, and that is why the manager should regret moving on from Alvarez.