Chelsea star Cole Palmer has been linked with a shock exit away from Stamford Bridge - by none other than former Blues centre-back William Gallas. The Frenchman is no stranger to having a bit of a strop when he feels things aren't going his way, and he seemingly expects other players will adopt the same mentality.
Gallas had a rather unhappy exit from Chelsea in 2006, joining Arsenal as part of the deal that took Ashley Cole the other way. Chelsea claimed that Gallas had threatened to deliberately score own goals if he wasn't permitted to leave, which he later denied as false accusations.
The centre-back then staged something of a sit-in in the Birmingham half during a 2-2 draw at St Andrew's in 2008, and later that year publicly criticised his teammates in the media. Gallas left for Tottenham in 2010.
Chelsea need to win something to keep key stars, Gallas believes
In any case, Gallas anticipates that if Chelsea are unable to fulfil the potential their expensively-assembled squad of youngsters now contains, they may be at risk of losing key players like Cole Palmer.
Gallas feels that players of that calibre will not be content to sit by and see their peers collecting medals while their own cabinets remain bare, and that it would only be a matter of time before they look for the exit.
Speaking to Prime Casino, Gallas said: "Cole Palmer might want to leave Chelsea in the future if they don’t show they can win trophies, but where would he go?
"Barcelona would be a great move for him, but they have great young players already like Lamine Yamal and might also be signing Nico Williams.
"Palmer looks like he is going to have a very similar season to last year and even though he is young, it will be tough to see his friends winning trophies if he isn’t at Chelsea despite the way he is playing.
"I won’t be surprised if he wants to speak to Chelsea in the summer if they again fail to win a trophy. He will want to know clearly what their targets are."
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Like many of his teammates, Palmer is tied down to an exceptionally lengthy contract at Stamford Bridge, with his current deal not set to run out until 2033.
But we expect Gallas is right at that at some unspecified point in the future, an unspecified club may want to sign a very good player if he wants to leave the club.
