Cole Palmer sends Jadon Sancho two-word message as Enzo Maresca transfer call proven right

Cole Palmer sent Jadon Sancho a message following Chelsea's clash against Brighton at the weekend. The Manchester United loanee played a crucial role in the Blues' 4-2 win at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon, winning a penalty and providing an assist.

Shortly before the half-hour mark, Sancho was brought down inside the box following a brilliant give-and-go with Enzo Fernandez. Palmer stepped up to the plate, netting his second of the tie to give Chelsea the lead.

The former Manchester City midfielder completed his hat-trick a few moments later, beating Bart Verbruggen with a spectacular free-kick from range. Then, just before half-time, Sancho cleverly slid Palmer in behind the Seagulls' backline to double the West Londoners' lead.

The Chelsea talisman darted between Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster before striking the ball into the near-side bottom corner. Sancho was given a warm reception from the home faithful when he was eventually replaced by Mykhailo Mudryk in the second-half.

After the game, the United loanee marked the victory with a celebratory post on Instagram. Captioning a selection of match-action shots, he wrote: "Special afternoon to make my first appearance at the bridge! +3 @colepalmer10 … no words needed [cold emoji]!"

Over the weekend, the post chalked up over half a million likes and over 7,000 comments – the most 'liked' of which coming from Palmer, who took the opportunity to acknowledge his teammate's performance. He wrote: "My boy!"

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Speaking to reporters after the game, Enzo Maresca reflected on his side's performance. The Chelsea boss said: "In terms of the way we played on the ball, we scored four. We could have scored three or four more in the first-half. And then the two goals we conceded, the first one is a mistake, a normal mistake.

"The second one is not about trying to play from behind. For me, it's more about reading the moment. We were 1-0 down and then 3-1 up, in that moment we don't need to take any risks. It's more for them to take risks, not us. I said to Robert [Sanchez] and the players, 'from now on, we are going to concede 10 more goals like the way we conceded the second goal'.

"It's the way we want to play. We already scored goals with Robert involved in the build-up but it is important after the mistake, the team continue in the same way. It means they enjoy, they like and they see also that we win games."

Chelsea signed Sancho from United on a season-long loan, which, football.london understands, includes an obligation-to-buy. The Blues were long admirers of the winger, who established himself as one of the most exciting young players in Europe during his time in the Manchester City youth setup.