Sports
WHILE Chelsea have endured another largely forgettable season marooned in mid-table, for Cole Palmer it has proved a coming of age.
The 21-year-old, who left Manchester City to move to Stamford Bridge in the summer, scored one goal and made another in the Blues’ 3-2 win over Newcastle on Monday.
He now has 19 goal involvements in 2023-24 and has both scored and assisted in five different league games this campaign, more than any other Premier League player.Gareth Southgate was watching in the stands as Palmer produced a man-of-the-match display to inspire his team’s victory against the Magpies – but has the England manager seen enough to include him in his squad for this summer’s European Championship?”He’s perfect for all types of football, but certainly international football where you need real class and composure in the final third,” said former England defender Gary Neville on Sky Sports.”I always think the very best players run with their head up so they can release it at the right moment – they always look like they’ve got time in the most difficult area of the pitch, where it’s most frantic.”Palmer’s so precise in his work for someone so young. I always think of younger wingers being erratic in their early years but he’s just not that. He’s class.”Palmer, however, is just happy to be part of the England conversation having only made his debut for the Three Lions in November, winning the first of his two caps.”If you were talking at the start of the season that I’d have a chance of going to the Euros I wouldn’t have believed you because of the position I was in,” he said.”I’m not really looking ahead to that. We’ll see what happens in the summer.”
‘I just wanted to showcase my ability’
Whatever does happen in the summer, there is no doubting the impact Palmer has had on Chelsea’s season, with more goals and assists than any other player in their squad.
While his current club continue to struggle for consistency, his former side are chasing another Treble, including an unprecedented fourth successive Premier League title.
“He’s been the best player for Chelsea this season by a very long way,” said ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports. “The thing I love about Palmer is not just his ability and what he’s shown this season but to make that move as a local lad.
“Moving from Manchester City, the best team in Europe right now, to a Chelsea project where you’re not quite sure what’s going to happen even now – I admire him.”
Neville suggested Palmer could still have been a “real asset” to City, despite having started just three league games for his boyhood club, but the Chelsea forward said the move had “paid off”.
“I just wanted to showcase my ability,” he said. “It was a very difficult decision to leave City – I was there since six years old.
“I was ready to play football, had a chat with my family, had a chat with the club and moved to Chelsea.”
BBC
12th March, 2024.
C.E.
