Chelsea's habit of following up positive results with negative ones struck again over the weekend, as the Blues followed up on their 3-2 win over Leeds United in the FA Cup with a 2-2 draw away to Brentford in the Premier League.
Mauricio Pochettino's side certainly didn't go into the game as overwhelming favourites, but considering they're ten points above the Bees in the table, coming away with just a point is undeniably disappointing.
One of the few players who put in a good shift for the west Londoners was former Manchester City ace Cole Palmer, which is nothing new this year.
However, as crucial as the 21-year-old has become at the club, plenty of players earn more than him, with one attacker in particular earning substantially more for very little return.
Cole Palmer's salary at Chelsea
Chelsea signed Palmer from league rivals City in the summer for a fee of around £40m, with £2.5m in add-ons, and to say he has been a success in the capital would be an understatement.
He made his debut for Pochettino's side on September 2nd, against Nottingham Forest, provided his first assist on September 27th against Preston North End and scored his first goal a week later, against Burnley.
Since then, the Manchester-born gem has been electric and currently has 12 goals and ten assists to his name in 32 appearances for the Pensioners, which is a remarkable return given his age and the fact that this is his first season at the club.
Given the impact he has already had at the club and the talent he so evidently has, fans would be forgiven for assuming that Palmer was one of the best-paid players at the club, when the opposite is true.
In total, 15 players earn more than the young Englishman's £75k-per-week wages at the club, and that number will only increase when players out on loan come back to the side in the summer.
The main argument for his moderate wages is likely that the young "leader", as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, was relatively inexperienced when he signed his deal in the summer, and that would be a perfectly logical explanation if there wasn't another attacker who was arguably more inexperienced at the top level when he signed his higher paying deal last season.
Mykhailo Mudryk's wage at Chelsea
Yes, Ukrainian international Mykhailo Mudryk is earning more than Palmer at Chelsea, and by quite a considerable margin.
The "monster dribbler", as U23 scout Antonio Mango described him, joined the Blues in a shock £62m transfer last January after being touted for a move to cross-city rivals Arsenal in the weeks leading up to the announcement.
Chelsea also agreed to pay £27m in add-ons should the then-22-year-old reach certain milestones and performance targets, but with how his time in west London has gone thus far, it seems unlikely that the Blues would have had to pay said add-ons just yet.
In his 45 appearances for the Pensioners, the former Shakhtar Donetsk star has scored just five goals and provided just five assists, meaning that he has cost the club £6.2m per goal involvement when taking into account his base transfer fee alone.
£62m
Transfer Fee (Base)
£40m
£100k-p/w
Wages (Base)
£75k-p/w
£67.9m
Total Cost So Far
£41.9m
£13.5m
Cost per Goal
£3.4m
£13.5m
Cost per Assist
£4.1m
£6.7m
Cost per Goal Involvement
£1.9m
However, alongside his hefty fee, the 23-year-old has also been earning a tidy wage of £100k-per-week for the 59 weeks he has been a Chelsea player, which means he has cost Todd Boehly and Co £5.9m in wages and a total of £67.9m without adding in the bonuses he might've earned in that period.
So, in total, he has cost around £13.5m per goal since signing his deal last January, while Palmer, when taking into account his £40m transfer fee and 26 weeks of wages, has cost the club £3.4m per goal, and that price is coming down almost weekly at this point.
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ByJack Salveson HolmesMar 1, 2024
Ultimately, it's hard to view the money spent on Mudryk as anything other than a waste, and that is especially so when considering the wage of Palmer, who has been far and away the team's best player in 2023/24.