City Flirting with Palmer Déjà Vu as Fulham Circle Bobb in £35m Move

Manchester City's transfer nous is the stuff of legend—they've spent £425m over the past year and still managed to land Premier League prizes like Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi on terms that make rivals wince. Yet for all their market mastery, there's a nagging sense they've not entirely escaped the spectre of their own miscalculations.

Enter Oscar Bobb. The 22-year-old Norwegian winger now finds himself at the centre of fresh transfer activity, with Fulham tabling a serious proposal around £35m to prise him away from the Etihad, according to Fabrizio Romano's exclusive. Borussia Dortmund remain circling too, though the London club's offer appears to have lit the fuse on negotiations with City.

It's a move that carries uncomfortable echoes. Cole Palmer's £42.5m exit to Chelsea looked like a shrewd piece of business at the time—plenty of attacking options in blue, so why not cash in? Except Palmer had other ideas. His flowering at Stamford Bridge made City's decision look, well, rather silly in retrospect.

The Bobb situation follows a similar script. With Semenyo now on board and Jeremy Doku entrenched in the pecking order, the youngster's pathway to minutes has effectively been sealed off. Offloading him at the right price makes perfect sense. That's not the issue. The concern is whether City might be shifting a talent whose best years lie ahead—one whose development has been derailed by injury and limited opportunities.

David Ornstein initially reported that City expected to move Bobb on for around £30m before the February 2 deadline, with interest spanning the Premier League, Germany, and Portugal. Fulham's £35m approach suggests the market is willing to pay a premium, betting on his untapped potential.

Bobb's ceiling may not quite match Palmer's trajectory—he's talented, certainly, but not quite operating at that same elite level. Still, there's every chance a fresh start, regular football, and the right coaching could unlock something special. And if that happens? Well, don't be shocked to see him pop up somewhere unexpected down the line, possibly even alongside Palmer somewhere down the line as Chelsea continue their peculiar habit of hoovering up promising wingers.