Brilliant with Chelsea, but substitute in the selection: Cole Palmer (22) is eyeing a starting place with England. He enjoys powerful popular and media support.
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The attacking midfielder or right winger has only nine caps, including only two as a starter, but he has already won the hearts of “Three Lions” supporters. They also elected him player of the year 2023/2024.
At the Euro, the elegant left-hander was only allowed 144 minutes of play spread over five matches, all of which started on the bench. His entries had however given a boost to the English, disappointing offensively despite an almost unrivaled stack of talents. Decisive passer in the semi-final against the Netherlands (2-1), scorer in the final against Spain (2-1 defeat), he paid the price for the competition with Jude Bellingham, to whom Gareth Southgate entrusted the playmaker position in Germany.
Cohabitation
How will interim coach Lee Carsley manage cohabitation on Thursday against Greece at Wembley then in Finland on Sunday? In the country, many are pleading to give number 10 to Palmer, even if it means moving Bellingham back a notch.
Offensive leader, “it’s his best position,” argued former Spanish international Cesc Fabregas in a BBC podcast. “When you have talented players like him, you immediately want them to be in the middle as much as possible to make things happen,” insisted the ex-Chelsea player.
“When he has the ball, it seems like everything is in slow motion and everything becomes very clear in his eyes. He is capable of making any pass from any angle of the field. I think it is possible, when a player is this special, to create a team around him,” says the current coach of Como in Italy.
“So gifted”
For Theo Walcott, “you can’t exclude him from any team, and I’m also talking about England”. He is “so gifted” that opponents will be “afraid of him,” said the former Arsenal and England striker on BBC Radio 5 Live.
At club level, Palmer earned a starting place after leaving his training club, Manchester City, in the summer of 2023 towards Chelsea. The London club paid just under 50 million euros in transfer fees.
His first season with the “Blues” was stratospheric, and the second began on the same basis. Since the start of the 2023/2024 financial year, he has been directly involved in 44 goals in the Premier League (28 goals and 16 assists).
“A humble guy”
However, “all this does not change anything about his personality. He’s a simple guy, a humble guy and that’s, for him, for me, the most important thing,” noted his coach Enzo Maresca at the end of September, after his protégé scored a quadruple against Brighton (4-2). ).
The description given by the Italian, former Manchester City under-23 coach and then assistant to Pep Guardiola, fits with that made by Carsley at the time of the list announcement. “Any challenge that is thrown at Cole, he takes it head on. He never sees himself too high or too low, that’s a great quality for a professional footballer,” underlined the former English Espoirs coach.
AFP
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