COLE-D SHOULDER
Chelsea could be better off without Cole Palmer, claims England legend as he picks out two Premier League examples
England international has been the Blues' best player and top scorer this season
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JOHN BARNES has questioned whether Chelsea would be better off without star man Cole Palmer.
Palmer has been a rare spark in the Blues' rather bleak season so far with 21 goals after joining for £45million from Manchester City.
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But there is only so much the England international can do to inspire his struggling team-mates with Chelsea slumped in ninth.
And Liverpool legend Barnes shared a bizarre theory that Chelsea could actually be better without Palmer.
He told : “Well has anyone considered that if Cole Palmer wasn’t playing and someone else was, could Chelsea be better off?
"We don’t know. They could be higher up the league.
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“It’s not a question of individual players where we say if he wasn’t playing Chelsea would be worse off because we just don’t know.”
Palmer is Chelsea's top scorer this season but Barnes used Philippe Coutinho and Harry Kane as examples to his shock theory.
Coutinho was Liverpool's main man when he moved to Barcelona for £142m in 2018 while Kane joined Bayern last summer as a Spurs legend.
And Barnes said: "We do know he is playing well for Chelsea but remember when Coutinho was at Liverpool and he was their best player.
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"Then Coutinho and Liverpool became a better team.
“We can’t say if Cole Palmer wasn’t there, Chelsea would be a worse team because they may have to play better as a collective team.
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“Look at Harry Kane when he left Tottenham. You could argue Tottenham are a better team without Harry Kane as good as Kane was.”
“However, Palmer is certainly having a great season at Chelsea.”
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