Paul Scholes highlights ‘problem’ with Man Utd signing Cole Palmer from Chelsea

Paul Scholes says he sees a potential ‘problem’ with Manchester United signing Cole Palmer if Bruno Fernandes remains at the club in the summer.

Palmer has established himself as one of the most exciting attacking talents in English football since leaving Manchester City to join Chelsea in a £42.5million deal back in 2023.

Given Palmer had many only three Premier League starts up until that point, eyebrows were raised regarding the size of the fee, as well as the length of the forward’s contract, which is not due to expire for another seven years.

But Palmer has silenced any initial doubters with his extraordinary contribution for Chelsea, racking up 53 goals and 32 assists in 125 appearances, while helping the club win the Europa Conference League and the Club World Cup.

Though fitness concerns have made for a more challenging season this time around, the 23-year-old England international has still managed to find the net nine times in 20 starts in the league – numbers he will be desperate to improve in the back-end of the campaign.

However, off the pitch, there has been speculation swirling over Palmer’s future at Stamford Bridge, with some reports claiming he had become ‘unsettled’ in London.

Old Trafford bosses have reportedly been closely monitoring the situation and Palmer is said to be ‘open’ to the prospect of a return to Manchester, where most of his friends and family reside.

In an interview with The Guardian last week, Palmer underlined his commitment to Chelsea and brushed off these rumours as nothing more than ‘talk’ and gossip.

‘Everyone just talks. When I see it I just laugh,’ he told The Guardian last week.

‘Obviously Manchester is my home. All my family are there, but I don’t miss it.

‘Maybe I’ll miss it if I don’t go for three months or something. But then when I get home I think there’s nothing there for me anyway.

‘I’ve got no plans to move from Chelsea. We’ve still got a lot to play for. We’ve got the FA Cup semi-final and if we finish in a Champions League spot it puts us in a good position to sign players that we need.

‘We spoke to the owners and they’re sure of the players that are gonna do it. Reece [James] won’t sign a six-year contract if he’s not spoken to the owners and the directors.

‘Me and Reece spoke a lot. About things we need, players we need to sign and how things need to be. He wouldn’t sign a new contract if he didn’t know what was going on.’

The speculation is likely to rumble on through to the summer transfer window, though, with pundits and fans with ties to both United and Chelsea giving their two cents on the matter.

Addressing the topic on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, Scholes admitted he would sign Palmer in United’s position ‘all day long’ if Fernandes was not at the club.

But the legendary ex-United and England midfielder sees difficulties with fitting both Palmer and Fernandes into the same team given their preference for the No.10 role.

‘He’s struggled of late, big time,’ Scholes said of Palmer.

‘I know he’s had injuries and he played in the summer, someone said he played the last three summers… he’s a maverick-ish.

‘The only problem I see with signing him is where does he play? He doesn’t play instead of Bruno Fernandes.

‘Now, if Bruno Fernandes goes in the summer then, yeah, all day long.’

Fernandes is arguably playing the best football of his career this season and is among the standout candidates to be named PFA Player of the Year, along with the likes of Declan Rice, Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva.

But Scholes fears it could be another summer of gossip and rumour surrounding Fernandes’ Old Trafford future, with the Portuguese turning down a proposed £100m move to Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Hilal last year.

‘I think he’ll be one of them where, every single summer he’s at United, he’ll get linked with something, the Saudi thing or something,’ Scholes explained.

‘I think it will come up again this summer.’

Scholes’ long-time team-mate Ryan Giggs envisages similar issues should United proceed with a move to prise Palmer away from Chelsea given Fernandes’ stranglehold on the No.10 position.

But featuring as a guest on the Rio Ferdinand Present YouTube channel, the iconic Welshman insisted he had no doubts whatsoever regarding Palmer’s ability.

Asked if Palmer would ‘fit the bill’ at the Theatre of Dreams, Giggs replied: ‘Yeah, he would, Manchester lad.

‘Where would he play with obviously Bruno [Fernandes] at No.10? He could play off the right possibly.

‘But yeah, we talk about [Rasmus] Hojlund and [Benjamin] Sesko, it’s only really Bruno who is creating things time and time again.

‘What if Bruno has a bad day or he’s injured? You need three or four players in your squad who can make things happen for these players to put the ball in the back of the net.’

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