20. Cole Palmer

[Vytis33 1,144]

 

[Vesper 28,880]

Jfc.

🤬

[bigbluewillie 1,859]

Chelsea forward Palmer and Aston Villa striker Watkins both reported for duty at St George's Park, but have returned to their respective clubs "to continue their rehabilitation from ongoing issues", said the Football Association.

WTF is that all about, "continue their rehabilitation from ongoing issues"

[Special Juan 27,430]

See this a lot in Internationals, have a feeling it's precautionary and to some what protect him. 

Reckon he's sound for Bournemouth  

[robsblubot 3,508]

Quote

Ballon d'Or: England's Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and Cole Palmer nominated

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/13209713/ballon-dor-englands-harry-kane-jude-bellingham-phil-foden-bukayo-saka-declan-rice-and-cole-palmer-nominated

Definitely not his year, but still pretty cool and well deserved!
 

[Milan 17,857]

Can you believe what diamond we actually have in Cole?

[NikkiCFC 7,966]

4 minutes ago, Milan said:

Can you believe what diamond we actually have in Cole?

That's what happens when geniuses Stewart and Winstanley are put in charge of transfers. 

[Vesper 28,880]

1 hour ago, NikkiCFC said:

That's what happens when geniuses Stewart and Winstanley are put in charge of transfers. 

why have they not sorted GKer atm?

[Fernando 6,468]

51 minutes ago, Vesper said:

why have they not sorted GKer atm?

Would have but maresca wanted to give another chance. It's what happens when you constantly change manager. If maresca stays another season then he will have known by then to get a new gk. 

[Strike 7,222]

 

 

[Johnnyeye 7,441]

what a player, simply phenomenal, long may it continue. He will reach legendary status at Chelsea in no time.

[Vesper 28,880]

 

[IMissEden 20]

He’s easily the best player in the world. It takes a smartass to overthink it. 

[Fernando 6,468]

I think that's why the guy that got him for us is now getting like unlimited power. 

I think it was shield? 

[DH1988 1,276]

IIRC Shields has ties to alot of youth talent over the last handful of years and more, quite a few players have referenced him specifically.

[Magic Lamps 11,655]

He’s phenomenal. Cole has not even remotely exhausted his potential yet, still he creates and gets to the end of so many chances it’s incredible. Just  compare how hard it was for us to even create anything before he joined. His football intelligence and technique is second to none in the team. 

but it does not mean anything if we don’t win titles with him. He won’t get any recognition outside England unless we win a CL/PL he has shown he can deliver on big occasions as well cf. euros. Just hope we get into that position again asap. The cups are always a matter of luck but in the conference league we have so much more quality than the others we have to win it. Absolutely no excuses. 

[Vesper 28,880]

Four Goals, Cole? Four? That’s Insane

https://www.scoutednotebook.com/i/149616622/four-goals-cole-four-thats-insane

 

And that might be an understatement.

By now, you have probably heard that Cole Palmer is the first player to score four goals in the first half of a Premier League game. But that is just the shallow end.

This is the second time Palmer has scored four goals in a Premier League game.

Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen and Yakubu Aiyegbeni are the only other players in the competition’s history to score 4+ goals in a Premier League match before their 23rd birthday. Only Palmer and Fowler have done it twice. Across Europe’s Big Five Leagues, the only other under-23 player to do so multiple times in this timeframe is Alberto Gilardino.

In fact, since 1992/93, only 20 players of any age have scored 4+ goals in multiple Big Five European League games. Cristiano Ronaldo holds the record with seven, Messi is next on five. Luis Suárez (3) and Sergio Agüero (3) are the only others to score 4+ in at least three matches. Incredibly, Palmer has as many 4-goal games in Big Five League matches as Erling Haaland.

Let’s descend further.

This is the third time that Palmer has been directly involved in 4+ goals in a Premier League match.

Since 1992/93, only 20 players have been directly involved in 4+ goals in at least three Big Five European League matches. Luis Suárez, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the only players to reach double figures for 4+ G/A hauls.

The fact that Cole Palmer is on this list after 58 Premier League appearances is insane. The fact that he has only started 38 league games is insane. The fact he is only 22 years old is INSANE.

 

Since 1992/93, only five players have been directly involved in 4+ goals in at least three Big Five European League matches before turning 23 years old. Palmer has equalled Erling Haaland’s record. With his birthday in May, he has seven months to break it.

But two of Haaland’s under-23 hauls came for Dortmund in the Bundesliga. That means Palmer is the first player in Premier League history to be directly involved in 4+ goals in three different matches before turning 23 years old. Robbie Fowler (2) and Cesc Fàbregas (2) are the only others to do it multiple times.

Hold on, this is already the second time this season that Palmer has been directly involved in four goals in a Premier League game.

Since 1992/93, only three players have dropped multiple 4+ G/A hauls in a single Big Five European League campaign before turning 23 years old: Cesc Fàbregas (2009/10), Kylian Mbappé (2018/19) and now Cole Palmer (2024/25).

The record haul in a single season for a player of any age within this timeframe is four. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi both did so in 2014/15 before Luis Suárez did so in 2015/16. Palmer has 32 games to try to join the club this season.

If not, he has the next decade… at least.

Quick note on the penalties: Palmer has now scored 10/10 in his Premier League career. The only player to score more with a 100% record intact is Yaya Touré (11/11). Palmer is coming for that record, too.

Everyone that watched Palmer at youth level will tell you that he had generational potential. Even for Manchester City’s senior side he averaged a goal or assist every 175 minutes, scoring in the UEFA Super Cup and Community Shield before completing his move to Chelsea.

His supreme technical ability, ice-cold composure, clarity of thought and unwavering belief in his own ability have been there from the start. And they will send him to the very top. Well, they already have.

Of all players in Premier League history with at least 450 minutes, only Erling Haaland has been directly involved in more goals per 90 than Cole Palmer.

This season, Palmer sits alongside Haaland on 10 league goals and assists combined, the first two players in Europe’s Big Five Leagues to reach double figures. With the likes of Lamine Yamal, Michael Olise and Bukayo Saka also in supreme form this season, it seems like the next generation could be defined by the left-footers.

[Vesper 28,880]

Is Chelsea’s ‘amazing’ Cole Palmer the best attacking player in the Premier League?

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5801912/2024/09/29/cole-palmer-Chelsea-best-player-premier-league/

As he passed the Matthew Harding Stand on Chelsea’s lap of appreciation following a 4-2 win over Brighton and Hove Albion, Cole Palmer tucked his well-earned match ball under the front of his shirt to free his hands and return the applause.

His intent may have been practical, but the image it created was indelible: a 22-year-old superstar, pregnant with genius?

Many in the Premier League would contend that particular birth has been and gone. Brighton coach Fabian Hurzeler admitted in his post-match press conference that, after six matches of a season that has already seen his team meet Manchester United and Arsenal, Palmer is the best individual player they have faced.

“They had one amazing player that punished every mistake we made,” Hurzeler said of Palmer. “He punished every individual mistake. You can’t stop him in one-against-one situations. We have to defend against him as a team.”

Palmer made Premier League history against Brighton, becoming the first player to score four first-half goals. There was a tap-in, a typically nerveless penalty, a sublime free kick and whipped near-post finish. He had another goal ruled out for a correct but close offside and hit the post.

Off all those things that happened between the 19th minute and the 41st minute, only the miss was shocking.

“I said to Cole that he scored four goals, but he could have scored two or three more,” Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said with a smile in his post-match press conference. “It’s good that he continues to be hungry, ambitious.”

Maresca went on to explain why he never worries about Palmer letting all of his rapidly growing fame, adulation and list of individual accolades go to his head.

“I know Cole from many years ago, I had him for one entire season with the under-23s at Manchester City,” the Italian said.

“The best thing he has is that in the way he is today as a boy, he was three or four years ago. So goals, assists, best player of the Premier League… this doesn’t change who he is. He’s a simple guy, a humble guy, and this for me is the most important thing.”

One part of Maresca’s answer stuck in the mind: “best player of the Premier League”. In context, it seemed more like a passing comment to underline the extent of Palmer’s grounded nature than a bullish claim about his place at the top of the superstar hierarchy, but there is a growing appetite to make a sincere argument on his behalf.

‘Best player’ debates in football are often tedious, not least because when most people say those two words they really mean ‘best attacking player’. Rodri lost one match in 18 months for club and country before rupturing his ACL against Arsenal; how do you compare the value of midfield controllers and defensive destroyers with those who deal in the currency of goals and assists?

Erling Haaland has been the logical choice for best attacking player in the league virtually ever since arriving at Manchester City in the summer of 2022, and a ridiculous 10 goals in his first six Premier League matches of 2024-25 suggests he has no intention of surrendering that particular mantle anytime soon.

The only attacker whose output merits serious comparison with the Norwegian phenomenon is Palmer. His six goals and four assists in 2024-25 give him the same number of direct goal involvements as Haaland (10) and since the beginning of last season he is one ahead, with a significant gap to the best of the rest:

In such rarefied air of attacking brilliance, personal preference tends to be the final differentiator. Haaland is the most relentless, physically overwhelming pure goalscorer of his generation, almost entirely single-minded in his focus on finishing moves. Palmer scores less — considerably so from open play last season — but creates much more, making him a natural hub through which Chelsea’s entire attack flows.

This was the story of much of the second half at Stamford Bridge; with four goals in the bag, Palmer dropped deeper into midfield, carving through Brighton’s high defensive line with perfectly weighted passes rather than the incisive runs that underpinned his first-half goal rush. He might have added three assists to his tally if Nicolas Jackson had not misplaced the composure in front of goal that he had shown against West Ham.

But it is these spectacular scoring bursts that do more than anything else to alert the rest of the Premier League and football supporters at large to Palmer’s dominance. In a little more than a year as a Chelsea starter, this is his third match ball and, incredibly, it might not even be his most impressive four-goal haul in a game (sorry, Everton).

Palmer has as many Premier League hat-tricks as Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink. His 10th straight successful penalty kick — converted against Brighton after grinning and nodding at Bart Verbruggen’s attempts to put him off — moves him to within one of Yaya Toure, the man who boasts the most Premier League penalties scored without a miss (11).

If the raw numbers are not enough to convince that Palmer has an increasingly credible claim to be considered the Premier League’s best attacker, the illustrious statistical company he keeps should be. The heralded achievements of bona fide legends are being matched and surpassed by a man with fewer than 60 league appearances to his name and who does not turn 23 until May.

He will be 31 when his Chelsea contract expires. Palmer has a superstar trajectory, a long runway and, with a bit of luck, a real chance to become the benchmark for all other Premier League attackers.