Chelsea heading for Hazard repeat with £96m star

Chelsea are flying proper now, claiming a fourth successive Premier League victory on Sunday afternoon, preventing again from 2-0 right down to defeat fierce rivals Spurs 4-3 on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Jadon Sancho and Enzo Fernández each pulled off long-range strikes, whereas Cole Palmer transformed a pair of second-half penalties, the second of which was an audacious, impudent Panenka.

This implies Palmer has now transformed 12 out of 12 spot-kicks within the Premier League, essentially the most any participant has taken with out ever lacking one, surpassing the earlier report held by Yaya Touré, and that wasn’t a foul option to do it, was it?

This victory lifts Enzo Maresca‘s workforce away from each Arsenal and Manchester Metropolis, now very a lot Liverpool’s nearest-challengers, simply 4 factors adrift the league-leaders, albeit the Reds have a sport in hand.

On condition that the Blues’ subsequent seven opponents are Brentford, Everton, Fulham, Ipswich, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Wolves, they’re more likely to grasp across the title dialog a short while longer but.

Chelsea star wished by Europe’s elite

Following Sunday’s sport, Jamie Carragher acknowledged on Sky Sports activities that he believes Palmer has been the best-performing participant within the Premier League because the begin of final season.

Nicely, primarily based on these statistics, it is arduous to dispute that declare.

As proven by this desk, simply seven gamers have collected 30+ objectives and assists within the Premier League because the begin of final season, with Palmer’s brace at Tottenham which means he has had extra direct purpose involvement than some other participant throughout this timeframe, another than Mohamed Salah, albeit having made three extra appearances.

The English star’s phenomenal kind isn’t going unnoticed as a result of, as claims from Spain recommend in current days, Actual Madrid are interested by signing the Englishman, with president Florentino Pérez allegedly admiring his ‘qualities and potential to turn out to be a world icon’.

The Blues signed Palmer for £42.5m, which now seems to be an absolute cut price, with CIES Soccer Observatory believing his worth has greater than doubled in 18 months, stating he’s price round £96m, which might be a conservative estimate.

Having signed an additional two-year extension in August, Palmer is now contracted to Chelsea till 2033, which means he wouldn’t come low-cost, with the aforementioned report acknowledging that ‘the participant’s price ticket can be a significant impediment’.

An Eden Hazard repeat for Chelsea

Traditionally, Actual Madrid do appear to have a behavior relating to poaching the Premier League’s premier expertise; David Beckham (2003), Cristiano Ronaldo (2009), Xabi Alonso (2009), Luka Modrić (2012) and Gareth Bale (2013) all spring to thoughts.

We have deliberately left Actual Madrid’s all-time report signing off this checklist, as a result of which may be a reasonably delicate concern for Chelsea supporters provided that, regardless of the numerous variety of Galácticos which have donned the well-known all-white equipment on the Bernabéu over the many years, Eden Hazard’s £88.5m transfer from Chelsea stays essentially the most Los Blancos have ever paid for any participant.

Truthful to say, this switch was not a hit, provided that the Belgian made solely 76 appearances for Los Merengues, scoring a miserly seven objectives, earlier than unceremoniously retiring and not using a membership on the age of 32 in October 2023.

In fact, ought to Actual Madrid make a transfer for Palmer, they’d actually be looking for to keep away from a way of déjà vu, however contemplating Palmer is simply 22 years previous, there’s minimal likelihood of this taking place.

In additional trendy occasions, the Champions League specialists have proven a willingness to spend huge on younger skills: Aurélien Tchouaméni (£66m), Vinícius Júnior (£40m), and naturally Jude Bellingham’s £88m transfer the clearest current examples.

Nonetheless, the Spanish giants could also be pressured to interrupt their all-time report payment ought to they want to signal Chelsea’s star attacker, as they did 5 years in the past.

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