rewrite this title Chelsea wasted £78m on “fragile” flop who earned more than Palmer does

Enzo Maresca’s biggest weapon at Chelsea is Cole Palmer. Nurture the Englishman well, and he could well fire the Stamford Bridge side to silverware this season.

Of course, the Italian boss has plenty of talent in his squad which could see the Blues qualify for the Champions League come the end of the season as they are more than good enough to seal a top four finish in the Premier League.

João Félix, Jadon Sancho, Nicolas Jackson, Enzo Fernández, the list goes on and on. All the club needs is a competent coach who can bring the best out of this group as a collective unit, and they could very well be on the cusp of something special, no doubt about that.

Palmer is the fulcrum of the team. If he can continue his recent form, then the rest of the side could use this as a springboard to success.

Cole Palmer’s Chelsea stats

Somewhat of a surprising signing last summer by Maurico Pochettino, especially considering he splashed out £40m on the youngster. Over a year later, this looks like a bargain.

By the end of the 2023/24 campaign, Palmer had scored 25 goals and registered 15 assists across 45 games in all competitions. If it weren’t for his goal contributions, the Blues wouldn’t have finished in the top six in the Premier League.

Under Maresca, Palmer has continued this excellent form, being used prominently in the top flight. In ten league games this term, the Englishman has scored seven goals and chipped in with five assists as the club look to improve on their sixth-place finish from last season.

Goal involvements aside, the 22-year-old still offers plenty of attacking intent. Indeed, he has created ten big chances in the top flight, averages 2.9 key passes per game and succeeds with 1.3 dribbles per game – a success rate of 52% – as the attacking midfielder causes chaos to opposition defences up and down the country.

Maresa utilising him in the Premier League – rather than deploying him in the Conference League – only looks like it could work wonders for the team in the long run, that’s for sure.

If he can replicate his numbers from last term, while helping his teammates bolster their stats in the process, Chelsea will be in a very promising position come the end of the campaign.

What Cole Palmer earns a week at Chelsea

Despite being Chelsea’s finest player since the start of last season, Palmer currently earns £130k-per-week, which places him tenth among the rest of the squad in terms of weekly wages.

The highest-paid player at the club is Reece James, who is taking home around £250k-per-week, although his injury issues have derailed his impact in recent seasons.

There is no doubt Palmer should be higher up on this list, but he is even earning less than what a former Chelsea flop took home per week during a dismal two-year stint in England.

Álvaro Morata failed to hit the heights expected of him between 2017 and 2018, yet still earned a massive wage every week…

Alvaro Morata’s Chelsea statistics

After Antonio Conte led the Blues to the Premier League title during the 2016/17 season, he turned to the transfer market to bolster his attacking options ahead of their title defence.

In came Morata for a transfer fee of £60m, joining the Premier League side from Real Madrid and the move looked like a major coup.

For the La Liga side the season before, the striker had scored 20 goals in all competitions as he played a big part in the club winning the league title and retaining their Champions League crown.

He failed to light up Stamford Bridge, struggling to live up to his lavish £60m fee under Conte.

The Spaniard actually got off to a decent start at the club. Not only did he score in his first Champions League game for Chelsea, a 2-1 win over Atlético Madrid, but he netted ten Premier Goals between August and the end of December.

The second half of the season wasn’t quite as kind to him, however, as Morata could only find the back of the net three times for the Blues. He did win the FA Cup, but with Conte leaving at the end of the season, it looked like the striker’s future was unclear.

Maurizio Sarri was the man who replaced Conte, yet it was clear Morata wasn’t in his long-term plans. Indeed, the centre-forward managed just nine goals before being sent out on loan to Atlético in the January transfer window.

Sarri even claimed Morata was a “little bit fragile” when talking about his mentality, thus ending any chance of a working relationship between the two.

Alvaro Morata’s total cost to Chelsea

Despite spending just 18 months in London, Morata cost Chelsea an absolute fortune when combining his transfer fee and total wages for his spell.

As mentioned, he cost a staggering £60m to sign from Madrid in the summer of 2017, while he earnt £170k-per-week for his troubles before he left the club in 2019.

Combined, this figure is £78m. Considering he scored just 24 goals across 73 appearances for the Stamford Bridge side, it was hardly money well spent.

He was even making £40k-per-week more than what Palmer is taking home every week just now, yet more evidence of their reckless spending back then under Conte.

Of course, the club have wasted money on several players since then, but Morata offered little despite earning a massive wage and costing the club a staggering transfer fee in the process.