Mauricio Pochettino believes Chelsea have their own Angel Di Maria after genius £42.5m transfer

Mauricio Pochettino has been singing the praises of a Chelsea star he thinks can reach the levels of Ange Di Maria. The Argentine managed his fellow countrymen at Paris Saint-Germain and even at 35 he is still playing at an elite level with a recent Champions League performance helping Benfica reach the last-16 stage.

From 741 senior appearances, Di Maria has scored 171 goals and won countless titles with Real Madrid, PSG and Juventus. The Blues have a number of talented left-footers including Ben Chilwell, Ian Maatsen and Noni Madueke but Cole Palmer is perhaps the pick of the bunch with Pochettino clearly a huge fan judging by his lofty Di Maria comparison.

«In the position that he [Palmer] plays, and because he’s a left-footer and because he has some similarities and the quality, he’s a potential Angel Di Maria,» Pochettino said of Palmer in an interview with TNT Sports. «Angel is a world champion [with Argentina], he was in Paris with us, and is an amazing player.

»He [Palmer] has the capacity and the potential to be close to him, with time. He’s still far away, but this type of player that can link, can be a playmaker, have the capacity to score, assist, it’s this type of player like Angel. Always you expect when you sign a player, you expect that they perform in the best way.

«But of course he’s performing really well from Day 1, he’s adapted very well to the club, to the teammates, to Chelsea life, and yes it’s amazing, because always you expect the player can perform well, but he’s doing excellent.» Palmer has been electric since his £42.5million summer transfer for Manchester City, despite the move catching most off guard.

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