Chelsea were rinsed by Conte flop who earned more than Cole Palmer

It’s been another rough season of Premier League football for Chelsea this year.

Despite spending an egregious sum of money on talented youngsters in the summer and bringing in Mauricio Pochettino to try and get the best out of them, the Blues have struggled to string together a run of positive results and, with five games left to play, it looks unlikely that they’ll reach the European places.

That said, at least one positive has come out of this year: Cole Palmer. The young Englishman has been incredible for the West Londoners, and what makes his signing all the more impressive is that he’s currently earning less than one of Chelsea’s biggest flops in recent years.

Cole Palmer’s season in numbers

The Pensioners completed the £42.5m signing of Palmer in September last summer, and while he had looked relatively impressive for City in short cameos, the fact that he had just six goals and two assists in 1481 minutes of senior football for the treble winners made the move a slight gamble.

However, flash forward eight months, and it would be fair to say that the Wythenshawe-born gem has repaid the Blues’ gamble, and then some.

In 40 appearances for the two-time European champions, the 21-year-old has scored 23 goals and provided 13 assists, meaning that he is averaging a goal involvement every 1.11 games.

Despite being the top goalscorer and assist provider at the club this season, 15 players are currently earning more than his £75k-per-week, and while that might make sense given his inexperience at the start of the season, it makes the wage given to former Chelsea flop Ross Barkley look all the more absurd.

How much Ross Barkley cost Chelsea

The Blues completed the £15m signing of Barkley under Antonio Conte in January 2018, just six months after the player initially turned down a £30m move.

The Englishman arrived at the club having not played for seven months due to a hamstring injury and subsequent surgery, so there was an element of risk in bringing him to West London and handing him a whopping £100k-per-week deal – £15k more than Palmer.

The Liverpool-born midfielder made only four appearances towards the end of the 2017/18 campaign but played 79 games in the subsequent two seasons. In these, he scored ten goals and provided 11 goals, meaning he averaged a goal involvement every 3.7 games.

With his performances and output leaving the club underwhelmed, the former Everton ace was sent on loan to Aston Villa for 2020/21, returning to Stamford Bridge for the following season before his contract was terminated by mutual consent in late August 2022.

Overall, the once-dynamic midfielder made 100 appearances for the Pensioners, scored 12 goals, provided 11 assists, and took home around £20.6m in wages.

Therefore, when adding in his £15m transfer fee, the 33-capped international cost the West Londoners £35.6m, which breaks down to £356k-per-appearance, £2.9m-per-goal, or £3.2m-per-assist.

Ultimately, it would be hard to describe Barkley’s transfer to Chelsea as anything other than a disaster, but at least the 30-year-old has rebuilt his reputation with Luton Town this season.