Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand are in consensus that Cole Palmer’s transfer to Chelsea has been the standout acquisition of the season.
Palmer’s impact has been sensational, particularly considering his transfer from Manchester City to Chelsea last summer for a hefty £42.5 million.
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Despite only having 19 Premier League appearances for Manchester City, Palmer has defied expectations.
In a season that has seen Chelsea struggle, currently sitting tenth in the league, Palmer has been a shining light. His remarkable debut season was highlighted by a hat-trick in a dramatic 4-3 win against Manchester United, featuring a record-breaking late winner, bringing his season’s goal count to 19 across all competitions.
Palmer, who made his England senior team debut last November, has also contributed eight assists, a figure surpassed by only five players, with nine matches left in the season.
Cole, a former Chelsea winger, praised Palmer as the ‘outstanding’ forward and the season’s best signing, confidently stating that Palmer is destined for a spot in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for Euro 2024.
‘I said it [that Palmer is the signing of the season] after the game in the height of excitement and I’m sober today and I still think it… I think so,’ Cole told TNT Sports.
‘I can’t see an argument against, for the money Chelsea paid for him and the age he’s at and what he’s done for Chelsea.
‘I shudder to think where Chelsea would be if Cole Palmer hadn’t put pen to paper. He’s been that good, he really has.
‘There have been three or four or five players at the club that I think have done well this year, but he’s been outstanding. He really has.’
Cole added: ‘With that mindset, he has to go with England because you know when you’re putting him on the pitch in any type of game at the Euros and it’s not going to faze him.
‘We’ve seen players who have fallen to bits at those pressure moments and that will never happen to him.’
The former Manchester United and England defender, Ferdinand, commended Palmer for his remarkable ability to manage the intense pressure of the game.
He likened Palmer’s relaxed and confident approach to that of someone simply enjoying a casual game of football ‘in his local area with his mates’.
‘Yeah, I think he has to be [the signing of the season],’ Ferdinand said.
‘[Alexis] Mac Allister has put in a case towards now. He scored a great goal the other day.
‘At the business end of the season, he has come to the fore. ‘But I think if you look at the numbers this kid [Palmer] has put up, he’s a young boy as well.
‘The biggest compliment I can give him is that Cole Palmer seems like the kid who will go anywhere in the world, in the biggest stadiums in the world, and it will feel to him like he’s just going down Goals in his local area with his mates.
‘He scored a hat-trick the other day. After the game, me and him [Cole] are standing there going, “How is he so calm?”, it’s unreal.’
Ferdinand expresses confidence in Palmer’s ability to rise to the occasion if Southgate decides to play the Chelsea standout in the crucial matches of England’s European Championship campaign this summer.
‘There’s so much ability around and we’re blessed to be seeing it, especially in England, people that are potentially in England shirts,’ he added.
‘But the big question for all of them is: have they got the mentality, have they got the blasé element to them where they go, “It don’t matter where I am, I’m gonna go and perform and do what I do everywhere else”.
‘He’s the one kid where I don’t think you’ll have too many worries about in that department.’
