Cole Palmer celebrates with his Chelsea teammates (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Former Chelsea left-back Ryan Bertrand has praised Joe Shields for his work as a manager at Stamford Bridge and the influence he had on the signing of Cole Palmer.
The England international has been a revelation since joining Chelsea from Manchester City last year, performed better than anyone could have expected, and Bertrand has spoken of the key role Shields played in that deal.
Overall, Bertrand believes Chelsea’s new owners have done an excellent job with recruitment and in particular in bringing in the likes of Shields to identify and recruit top talent.
Palmer has been their biggest success story, with Bertrand noting Shields previously worked at Man City so knew the player better than most.
Cole Palmer transfer praised by former Chelsea man
Bertrand, speaking at the launch of Ladbrokes’ Gaffer of all Accas, said: “First of all, when it comes to Cole, you have to admit that one thing that Chelsea have done under this new ownership is that they have signed fantastically good in managerial roles, and a guy called joe shields has to be given a lot of credit… he’s the director of talent at chelsea, and he’s brought in some amazing players… cole is one of them.
“He worked with him at Manchester City, so he knew him inside out. People knew he was a good player, because he was at City, but not many people knew how good he could be. Joe stood up and requested that he contributed, and in doing so, he brought the best player in the Premier League right now.”
Chelsea fans will be delighted that Shields helped them sign Palmer and will no doubt be hoping that he can work his magic again in the near future to finally get this club back to where it once was.
