Chelsea have stumbled upon their new Eden Hazard who will save Mauricio Pochettino from the sack

Cole Palmer «is undoubtedly ready for this next step and we are delighted it will be with Chelsea,» said the clubs co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley upon his transfer announcement in September. The 21-year-old had just moved to Stamford Bridge, leaving behind his boyhood club Manchester City in search of more first-team minutes.

Despite being one of the jewels of an extremely talented academy set-up that has helped produce Phil Foden, Rico Lewis, Romeo Lavia, and Oscar Bobb among others in recent years, Palmer never became a regular under Pep Guardiola. Making his league debut as a teenager, Palmer was unable to force his way into a stacked attacking team.

With just over 500 senior top-flight minutes to his name before the move, Chelsea's £47.5million offer surprised many. Seven full months later and Palmer is the most in-form player in the Premier League.In 2024 he has more goals and assists than any other and has been involved in 10 of Chelsea's last 15 one way or another.

Against Manchester United on Thursday, he helped lay the platform for what looked to be a comfortable home victorybefore having to then rescue his team with heroics that not even someone of his own astronomical self-confidence could imagine. His first senior hat-trick made it 16 for the season in 21 starts.

In the process he has matched Eden Hazard's best single league season goalscoring record. He has already overtaken Juan Mata's tally too and looks set to post one of the most impressive campaigns for a Chelsea player in the past 15 years. He is already ahead of most but now has at least ten games left domestically to enhance his standing even more.

Things could have been so different for Chelsea and Palmer though. Not only did