Manchester City were more than happy to let a player go after Guardiola refused to commit to their demands
(Image credit: Tom Flathers/Manchester City FC via Getty Images)
Manchester City decided to sell one player in the most recent transfer window after he placed demands on Pep Guardiola that the manager simply refused to commit to.
Pep Guardiola has regularly made clear to his players that he will allow them to leave Manchester City if they no longer want to be at the club, the Spaniard only wanting people who are fully committed to his project regardless of their status within the team.
That stance certainly didn't change in the summer, either. Ilkay Gundogan and Riyadh Mahrez both left after wanting a different challenge following their tremendous treble win, but the demands of another player ultimately led to their departure too.
VIDEO: The reason Manchester City were so desperate to sign Jeremy Doku
According to TEAMtalk, Manchester City decided to sell Cole Palmer due to the player's desire for more regular first-team football, which Pep Guardiola wasn't willing to agree to.
The report suggests that Palmer met with Guardiola during pre-season to try and ascertain how much football he would expect to play in the 2023/24 campaign.
Having made 40 appearances in three seasons since making the step up to senior football, the 21-year-old wanted to become a more regular member of the starting XI and believed the departure of Mahrez opened that door for him.
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Palmer demanded more regular first-team minutes at City (Image credit: Getty Images)
However, Guardiola reportedly couldn't promise an exact amount of minutes to Palmer over the course of the campaign, highlighting that he needed to look elsewhere for guaranteed minutes.
Therefore, when Chelsea offered £40m plus £2.5m in add-ons for Palmer, it is believed the winger reiterated his desire to the club to move on in search of more regular opportunities. While Guardiola didn't want to lose the promising talent, he also didn't want to step in the way of a player who harboured ambitions for something he couldn't commit to as the Manchester City manager.
Fortunately for Guardiola, though, the club signed Jeremy Doku for £55m from Rennes in the summer transfer window, meaning Manchester City aren't completely short of options at right-wing. Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva are also capable of slotting in there.
Palmer made his debut for Chelsea against Nottingham Forest (Image credit: Getty Images)
Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
