'Toxic' Chelsea dressing room could be behind Cole Palmer’s transfer plan says Premier League legend

Cole Palmer could be thinking of leaving Chelsea in part because of the toxic dressing room situation at the club.

The rumours about Cole Palmer wanting to leave Chelsea have faded a little in recent times because the focus is so squarely on the managerial situation. But you can expect them to come straight back in the summer.

Gareth Barry has been speaking about Palmer’s potential desire to leave in quotes picked up by the Evening Standard.

“Any player wants to be playing in a settled dressing room at a settled club. If you’re in a dressing room that is perhaps slightly toxic, it is hard to go into training and perform every day, it’s not nice,” Barry said.

“Any player, Cole Palmer and others, if they aren’t seeing a long-term settled future at Chelsea, it’s natural for them and their agents to start looking and thinking ‘where can we go and achieve things’ in what ultimately is a quick career as a football player.”

Palmer can’t blame dressing room trouble for personal poor form

Of course Chelsea’s dressing room situation isn’t helping Palmer. But we think it would be a big stretch to blame his poor form on that. Part of it is physical, and beyond his control, but he’s got to take responsibility for a lot of it himself.

Another player who could leave the Blues this summer is Nicolas Jackson, and there are a number of clubs lining up to try and make that happen.

Matt Law accused Chelsea’s “selfish” players of ruining their own season with petty behaviour over the course of the last few months.