Pep Guardiola takes responsibility for Cole Palmer's Man City exit and makes Jadon Sancho comparison

Cole Palmer's exit from Manchester City is Pep Guardiola's responsibility, the manager admits, adding that the winger may have stayed had he played as much as Phil Foden has.

Palmer grew frustrated at a lack of playing time - starting just three times in the Premier League over two full seasons, with two of those games coming after City had secured the title last season. He scored in the Community Shield and UEFA Super Cup this season, before making the £42m switch to Chelsea in search of more regular games.

He has not looked back in West London, scoring 12 times and assisting nine further goals in 28 appearances, including an injury-time equaliser against City at Stamford Bridge. After telling Palmer that he never doubted his ability to excel given a run of games, Guardiola has now taken personal responsibility for not playing the 21-year-old in enough games, leading to his exit.

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"For young players we always want them to stay but this is normal. After two or three seasons he wants more minutes than he had the last season. I understand completely," Guardiola said.

"When players have the minutes that I didn’t give him, for the reasons everyone knows - the other players. But we knew the quality he has and the impact he has shown this season is enormous. It is not just goals and assists, it is the quality and we knew it. He is an incredible threat for Chelsea."

Guardiola expanded on his reasons for playing others ahead of Palmer, accepting that he is responsible for keeping the youngster on the bench which led