Palmer came back to haunt City on Sunday, calmly firing home an added-time penalty to hand Chelsea a point in a dramatic 4-4 draw. It was the 21-year-old&aposs first appearance against his former side, following his 42.5million move to Stamford Bridge.
The departure of Riyad Mahrez seemed to have opened up space for Palmer to develop at City and he scored in both the Community Shield and UEFA Super Cup. But the attacking midfielder thought more consistent football would come at Chelsea and Richards is happy to see him succeed.
“Its a good question because I would have never sold him, just because I knew what he could do,” Richards told The Rest Is Football when asked if he&aposd have sold Palmer. “The thing is with Manchester City, they produce so many good players and obviously they buy top players too, so you cant have everyone.
“If you can get 42m for someone that didnt play that many games. Its the courage I like. Can you remember a couple of weeks ago when he and (Raheem) Sterling were fighting over a penalty and he was like &aposno, I am taking this&apos. To take a penalty in the 95th minute. I am gutted.
“I think it was right for him because he is not going to a team that isnt going to challenge, he has got a great manager and hes at a club that is going to spend a lot of money. Hes becoming the main man. He was never going to be the main man at Manchester City.
“We have talked so much about Foden and if he can become that and its taken him a while and hes dipped in form a little bit – he played well yesterday. But when you have Foden, Doku, Grealish, Bernardo Silva and Alvarez, he has to go and play. I am gutted and devastated that he is not a Manchester City player, but I am happy he is doing so well.”
