There are two sides to Cole Palmer. There is the shy character who can fool you into thinking he has nothing much to say for himself. On the other hand there\u2019s the artist with the ball at his feet. The player with the \u201cIce Cold\u201d celebration copied by kids in playgrounds everywhere. The improviser who makes the price of a ticket worthwhile.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know what you\u2019re saying,\u201d Palmer replies as, on a sunny afternoon at Chelsea\u2019s training ground, we talk about the contrast between his shy conversational style and his ability to make an impact on people when he steps on the pitch. \u201cI don\u2019t really say too much in general but when I\u2019m on a pitch I try to. I feel like it\u2019s two different personalities. Off the pitch it\u2019s quiet. I find it hard to speak to new people. But when I\u2019m on the pitch I feel it just comes freely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chelsea\u2019s No 10 takes a while to open up during our chat. Football is his chosen language. The boy from Wythenshawe admits that he is guarded with new people. Questions about whether the boy from Wythenshawe visualises moves and tried to copy his heroes when he was younger fall flat.<\/p>\n
By the end, though, the 23-year-old has warmed up and is nattering away. He is laughing about last summer\u2019s chaotic win against Benfica<\/a> at the Club World Cup (the game lasted four hours after a delay due to stormy weather in North Carolina) and delivering an update on his views on southern people. He has gone into detail about his injury woes and it feels significant that he has agreed to meet. It is easy to talk during a winning run. It shows character to do it when the world is on your back.<\/p>\n This has been the toughest season of Palmer\u2019s career and it has been a tricky few weeks for Chelsea. Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez and Marc Cucurella have questioned the club\u2019s project<\/a>. There is a fan protest scheduled before Saturday\u2019s game against Manchester United. There is also constant speculation swirling around Palmer, who has repeatedly been linked with a summer move to United, the club he supported as a boy.<\/p>\n But Palmer is here and he is committed. He is by far the biggest name at Chelsea and, having worn the captain\u2019s armband for the first time during the recent FA Cup quarter-final<\/a> win against Port Vale, he wants to set the record straight on his future.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got different [kinds of] captains,\u201d Palmer says. \u201cYou\u2019ve got ones who shout and encourage and you\u2019ve got ones that try to lead by example. And I think from what I\u2019ve done since I arrived here, with the amount of goals I\u2019ve scored and assists I\u2019ve done in certain moments, I feel like I can try and set an example with the way I play.\u201d<\/p>\n Cole Palmer captained Chelsea for the first time in this month\u2019s FA Cup win against Port Vale. Photograph: Alun Roberts\/ProSports\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n Palmer is 6ft 1in now but his youth coaches remember a small kid who refused to be intimidated during games. \u201cThat\u2019s just the way I play,\u201d he says. \u201cI always want the ball. If you lose the ball, then get on it again and don\u2019t lose it the next time. You can\u2019t hide. You\u2019ve just got to try and enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n Palmer smiles when I suggest he never looks nervous on the pitch. \u201cEveryone says that to me. Obviously everyone gets nervous.\u201d The last time he really felt the butterflies, though, was before he made his England debut in November 2023. \u201cI just think it\u2019s just a game,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not that deep. That\u2019s how I\u2019ve been brought up \u2013 to just play and don\u2019t think too much. There\u2019s bigger things than football. Obviously, you get upset and obviously it\u2019s a very emotional game. But when you miss a chance you just shrug it off. It\u2019s happened. You can\u2019t change it.\u201d<\/p>\n What has to change is Chelsea\u2019s form. Knocked out of the Champions League<\/a> by Paris Saint-Germain last month, they are sixth in the league and there is growing pressure on Liam Rosenior, who was appointed as head coach after Enzo Maresca\u2019s shock departure<\/a> on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been an inconsistent season for whatever reason,\u201d Palmer says. \u201cIt\u2019s just about, in my opinion, getting the right players in to help us kick on.\u201d<\/p>\n Chelsea will tweak their model this summer. They have focused heavily on youth under the ownership of Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly but there is a recognition of the need for more readymade talent. Palmer is confident. He and Chelsea\u2019s captain Reece James, who recently signed a new long-term deal, have had constructive discussions with the owners and five sporting directors about summer targets. Mois\u00e9s Caicedo is also extending his contract to 2033.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something we\u2019re working on together,\u201d Palmer says. \u201cWe\u2019re on the same page. We want to win now and I think if we add right in the summer we can compete for serious trophies next season. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re far off. If you sign the right players in the right positions and the right characters and profiles, I think we have more than enough quality to compete and be more consistent than we\u2019ve shown over this season.<\/p>\n \u201cBringing a manager in mid-season, you have no pre-season, hardly have time to train. You\u2019re just focusing on games. But the manager is good and when he has a proper pre-season and gets his ideas across properly and the way he wants to play he\u2019s a top coach. If we as players perform to how we should be performing and we get the right players we can, him and us as a group, do some work.\u201d<\/p>\n Cole Palmer is hoping to secure a place in Thomas Tuchel\u2019s England squad for this summer\u2019s World Cup. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Palmer shrugs off the stories about him pining for life in the north-west and a move to United. \u201cEveryone just talks,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I see it I just laugh. Obviously Manchester is my home. All my family are there, but I don\u2019t miss it. Maybe I\u2019ll miss it if I don\u2019t go for three months or something. But then when I get home I think there\u2019s nothing there for me anyway.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got no plans to move from Chelsea. We\u2019ve still got a lot to play for. We\u2019ve got the FA Cup semi-final [against Leeds] and if we finish in a Champions League spot it puts us in a good position to sign players that we need. We spoke to the owners and they\u2019re sure of the players that are gonna do it. Reece won\u2019t sign a six-year contract if he\u2019s not spoken to the owners and the directors.<\/p>\n \u201cMe and Reece spoke a lot. About things we need, players we need to sign and how things need to be. He wouldn\u2019t sign a new contract if he didn\u2019t know what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n Palmer\u2019s deal runs until 2033. In a further sign of his commitment he has recently bought a house in Surrey. Two years ago he told a group of journalists that he found southerners \u201cmoody\u201d. His views have changed now. \u201cIf you get someone like me who\u2019s from Manchester and you get another person from Manchester, we\u2019ll all just sit in this room and not say anything to each other,\u201d Palmer says. \u201cI like southern people. They just talk and talk and talk to you.\u201d Ever wish they\u2019d stop? \u201cNo,\u201d he smiles. \u201cIt depends who it is.\u201d<\/p>\n It is easy to forget that Palmer is young. He is something of a reluctant star. There were billboards of him all over New York last summer. He has come to understand why people stare at him in the street but says he is just like anyone else.<\/p>\n Cole Palmer, who left Manchester City for Chelsea in 2023, said he was happy in London amid transfer speculation. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n The difference is the attention. Everything moved so easily for Palmer after he grew tired of waiting for Pep Guardiola to give him a run at City. He joined Chelsea in September 2023<\/a> and found freedom under Mauricio Pochettino. He scored hat-tricks in two consecutive home games, finished his first season in west London with 25 goals in all competitions, was named the PFA Young Player of the Year and grabbed England\u2019s equaliser in their defeat by Spain in the Euro 2024 final<\/a>.<\/p>\n More followed last season: four goals in one half against Brighton<\/a>, a virtuoso display against Real Betis in the Conference League final<\/a>, two brilliant strikes to see off PSG in the Club World Cup final<\/a>.<\/p>\n The world was at Palmer\u2019s feet, only for his body to let him down. A nagging groin injury restricted him so much it was not until January that he registered his first assist of a stop-start season.<\/p>\n \u201cAn injury that hasn\u2019t got a timeframe on it,\u201d Palmer says. \u201cIt\u2019s not like a muscle injury where you can say it\u2019ll take eight weeks. When it first came on I came back versus Bayern Munich in September and did it at the end of the game. The 94th minute I tried to cross it. I knew I did something, and then we had United and obviously I tried to play but I couldn\u2019t even run or walk or anything.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know how long I was going to be out for. I went to see a specialist and he said 10 to 12 weeks. Then I was playing when I was injured because I was out for 12 weeks and it was still not better.\u201d<\/p>\n Cole Palmer: \u2018When I\u2019m happy I play my best.\u2019 Photograph: Graeme Robertson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n It was new to Palmer. \u201cI\u2019ve never been injured like this before. I\u2019m sat there on the side for over three months. I came back in early December, Leeds away. I came on for 30 minutes, and I couldn\u2019t even sprint. I could just about pass it. I couldn\u2019t play long balls, couldn\u2019t even shoot. But I wanted to play so much. I was trying to play and it was just too strange.\u201d Forcing himself to play did Palmer no favours. \u201cI didn\u2019t know how to manage it,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s probably part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Palmer often looked like he was playing under a cloud. Thomas Tuchel, England\u2019s head coach, has said the forward\u2019s stride only returned when Chelsea faced Arsenal in early March.<\/p>\n Palmer says it was not until a few weeks ago that he felt free again. \u201cI\u2019m all right now,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s just about finding rhythm and performing again. Because I performed when I first got here. Last season I scored 14 Premier League goals in 20 games. Then the Club World Cup. It\u2019s not just going to disappear. I\u2019ve not lost all my ability. I\u2019ve been injured.\u201d<\/p>\n Even a half-fit Palmer has still hit double figures this season. That decisiveness is why he still looks a good bet to make Tuchel\u2019s squad for the World Cup. Palmer was happy with his level in training during last month\u2019s England camp. He felt he did well as a substitute against Uruguay but accepts that the defeat to Japan was a difficult night.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just about focusing on these last few weeks,\u201d Palmer says. \u201cGet back to myself that I know pretty well. Work hard and hopefully go away with England.\u201d There were a lot of pictures of Tuchel hugging Palmer during training. \u201cYeah,\u201d Palmer says. \u201cWhen I\u2019m happy I play my best.\u201d Chelsea intend to keep him smiling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are two sides to Cole Palmer. There is the shy character who can fool you into thinking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-590406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}