Pep Guardiola has already explained how Cole Palmer will improve his Man City attack

With Raheem Sterling set to join Chelsea over the next few days and Gabriel Jesus having already left for Arsenal, there appears to be a golden opportunity for one Manchester City academy graduate to make real inroads into Pep Guardiola's first team.

Cole Palmer enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2021/22, appearing in four Premier League matches and scoring in the Champions League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup.

The 20-year-old's season was cruelly curtailed by an unfortunate string of injuries and illness, but if his performances for both the first team and EDS are anything to go by then he will be the main beneficiary of Sterling and Jesus' departures.

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Guardiola is understood to be keen to use Palmer as a right-wing option a lot more this season, just as he upped Phil Foden's first-team involvement in the 2019/20 campaign.

It's been reported that Palmer will effectively act as an understudy to Riyad Mahrez on the right flank, whose long-term future at the club remains uncertain with just 12 months remaining on his current contract.

In recent days some City fans have voiced concerns that in the absence of Sterling and Jesus City's attack may now lack pace and directness, but as Guardiola explained last autumn, Palmer can give his side a quality they were at times a little short of.

"Cole has this special quality in front of the box, this talent that is difficult to find," he said. "When he has the ball there most of the time it finishes in the net, and it is not easy to find that."

While there is no doubting Sterling and Jesus' goalscoring credentials - the duo scored a combined 226 in sky blue - last season there was a sense that neither were