Last month, Chelsea captain Reece James made a startling declaration. “Cole Palmer is one of the best in the world, I think personally,” James said. “At [Manchester] City, he didn’t play as much as he would like but he has come here and taken the chance with both hands.”
Even accounting for the sort of hyperbole teammates sometimes bestow on one another, the compliment offered a sense of the impact Palmer has had at Stamford Bridge. With 22 goals and 11 assists in 33 Premier League games, he powered Chelsea out of the bottom half of the points table and into a qualification spot for the European Conference League.
Awing his mates
Palmer appeared genuinely surprised by James’ compliment, saying: “I wouldn’t go that far. But it’s nice to hear. It’s all new to me. This is my first season playing properly in the league.”
James isn’t the only footballer to be awed by Palmer’s quality after a look at close quarters. Both Phil Foden and Kieran Trippier recently spoke about the 22-year-old’s special talent.
“I always knew [Palmer] would have a brilliant career,” City prodigy Foden said of his England and former City teammate. “You can see it straight away when you’ve got a top player. With Cole, it’s effortless. Slows play down, shifts to the side, chops with fake shots. You can see the instinct straight away in a player. He was one of the best in the five-a-sides [in training].”
Newcastle full-back Trippier, who trained with Palmer this week as England prepares for the Euros, was similarly struck. “He’s really surprised me, a top-quality player,” said Trippier. “It’s just how he finds the pockets [of space]. His awareness for where other people are and how clever he is for such a young age. I am really happy that I’ve trained with him, he’s been quality.”
While Palmer’s skill, athleticism and ball-striking are eye-catching, it’s his mental strength, especially his response to pressure, that suggests he could become a true world-beater.
In the 2023-24 season, he often stepped up in the most trying circumstances. In a very challenging environment at Chelsea — there was a lot of churn after the club spent £400 million to bring in 13 new players last year, with over £1 billion splashed out over the past two years — Palmer looked a class above his teammates, especially the new recruits.
Brrr… he’s cold: Palmer’s capacity to deal with pressure and finish with nerveless control separates him from the average top-flight footballer. | Photo credit: Getty Images
Mauricio Pochettino, who was sacked as Chelsea manager after the season, said Palmer had stood out from his teammates, thanks to his ability to deal with the pressures of playing for the London club. With fans turning on the manager and the club’s US owners after a string of poor results, Palmer largely carried the Blues on his shoulders and inspired the turnaround.
Thriving in adversity
“If you ask me about Palmer, not all the players have the same process to be settled at the club or to perform,” Pochettino said during the season, when he was asked why the other players were struggling. “We are in a process that the main group, the main young players, struggle a little bit to deal with the pressure to play for Chelsea. One of Cole’s basic skills is his mentality, his capacity to deal with the pressure. It’s amazing the way he can deal with the pressure.”
Indeed, Palmer thrived when his team needed him the most. Nowhere was this better illustrated than in the 4-3 home win over Manchester United in April, when he scored twice in stoppage time to complete a hat-trick and turn a madcap contest on its head. “He is a player with amazing talent, a player that understands the game. He has the quality and the talent to see the situation and to read the game in another aspect,” Pochettino said.
The Blues looked a completely different side without Palmer. When the influential attacking midfielder was ruled out of the game against Arsenal, Chelsea was blown away 5-0 without appearing as if it could go toe-to-toe with its London rival.
Out of Manchester: Palmer’s surprise move from treble-winning City in 2023 has paid off, with the attacking midfielder lighting up London. | Photo credit: Getty Images
Clearly, Palmer’s surprise move from treble-winning City in 2023 has paid off. He scored for City in the Community Shield in August and again in the UEFA Super Cup but joined free-spending Chelsea in a deal worth up to £42.5 million on transfer deadline day, September 1.
“I just thought for my career I have to get regular game-time,” Palmer said. “It was a big move for me. I’d never been out of Manchester, not even on loan, so to move on my own was a big thing. Who knows what would have happened if I had stayed? Maybe I would have played more, maybe not. But I think the decision that I made to go to Chelsea so far is paying off.”
It’s ironic that Palmer, a United fan who came through the City youth ranks, has found his feet in London, not Manchester. And it’s his performances at Chelsea that have catapulted him into the reckoning for a spot in the England team at the Euros. He opened his international goal account with a typically nerveless penalty in the warm-up win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Man for the big stage?
Given Palmer’s ability under pressure, he could be just what England needs on the big stage. He has already tasted international success — he was a part of a star-studded junior team that won the European Under-21 Championship last summer. His versatility — he can play as a No. 10, a right-sided attacking midfielder, a winger and, if needed, a striker — makes him a particularly attractive option for any international coach looking to cover multiple bases in a squad.
Both the summer and the 2024-25 season will test Palmer — players after a breakthrough season tend to be scouted more carefully and planned for, even as the expectations rise — but he appears to have both the physical and mental ability to face these challenges.
“Personally, it’s been a very good season for me,” Palmer told Chelsea’s official website. “I’ve enjoyed it. I didn’t really have targets, but I had something in my head that if I did play then I would like 10 goals and 10 assists. That was after I started playing because I just wanted to play. I didn’t expect this season to have gone as well as it has, but I’m just really thankful that it has. Let’s hope it can continue.”
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