Cole Palmer has been nominated for the Premier League’s Young Player of the Season award, just days after winning Chelsea’s in-house player of the season award.
The creative midfielder has exceeded all expectations since his summer move, and by such a distance that it’s hard to believe. His 21 league goals are just the start. It’s hard to overstate what an influence he’s had on a team which he has single handedly saved time and again during the campaign just by popping up with a goal from nowhere.
The recently 22 year old is not just young – he’s also a total rookie in the league. Some players already have 4 years under their belt by his age. But Cole had been rotting on the Man City bench, and this was truly his debut season as a full time starter.
It’s crazy to think back only to September when he signed and the luke-warm reaction it got. Nobody was expecting anything even close to this.
The first of plenty more awards to come
Usually we don’t like how the nominations for these things come before the end of the season, but in this case Cole has such a huge lead over everyone else there is almost no point waiting. Just give it to him now!
Palmer is also likely to be a candidate in the general Player of the Year race too, although that one is more likely to go to someone in a title-winning side, quite reasonably.
🔵 Foden
🔵 Haaland
🏁 Isak
👹 Mainoo
🔷 Palmer
🔴 Saka
🔴 Saliba
⚪️ UdogieThe #RisingStars team debate the @Hublot Young Player of the Season nominees! Watch the full episode and cast your vote now ⬇️
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 9, 2024
No Chelsea player has yet won this award, which was first handed out following the 2019/2020 season. There is some serious competition out there however – players like William Saliba, Erling Haaland and Bukayo Saka still qualify for the award despite having years of top level experience, and there’s also hot competition from the likes of Alex Isak and others.
