Cole Palmer admitted his first season at Chelsea had gone much better than he could have imagined, after making the “difficult decision” to leave Manchester City last summer.
Palmer swapped the Etihad for Stamford Bridge in a deal worth £42.5m in a bid to play more regular football having been on the periphery of Pep Guardiola’s star studded squad.
The move paid dividends as the 22-year-old lit up the Premier League, and was one of the standout performers as he scored 22 goals and provided 11 assists, which saw him named as Premier League Young Player of the Year.
Palmer admits his season was better than he could have imagined
The former City man started his first few games on the bench for Chelsea, but he soon established himself as a regular in the team, quickly becoming a key player under Mauricio Pochettino.
It took Palmer just three months to earn his first call up to Gareth Southgate’s England squad, and he made his debut against Malta at Wembley last November.
The England international has been named as part of Southgate’s provisional 33 man squad for Euro 2024, and barring any injuries, he is expected to make the cut for the final 26 that head to Germany.
The awards have flowed in for Palmer and in addition to winning the Premier League Young Player of the Year, he cleaned up at Chelsea’s end of season awards, and became the first Blues player since Eden Hazard in 2018 to pick up a Premier League Player of the Month award.
The versatile forward also became the youngest player in Premier League history to finish a season with the most goal contributions, 33, as he finished ahead of Erling Haaland and Ollie Watkins.
Palmer has been reflecting on his season and admitted it had gone better than he could have imagined, and that he feels fully justified in making the move south.
“It’s my first season and I thought I’d go there, hopefully play, but it’s gone much better than I could have imagined”, he told The Mirror.
“I definitely feel I was justified, I came to play football, I made a difficult decision to leave Man City and go to Chelsea but thankfully it’s paying off and hopefully it will continue to do so.”
Palmer will be hoping to play a major part in helping England to a first trophy since 1966, and with the way his season has gone you wouldn’t bet against it.
