Paul Merson believes Cole Palmer is a marked man this season and thinks he could struggle to score 15 goals as the Blues prepare to host Manchester City on Sunday.
Palmer surprisingly joined Chelsea from Manchester City on deadline day last summer and exceeded all expectations by putting together an unbelievable season for the Blues.
The 22-year-old scored 22 Premier League goals and provided 11 assists, which saw him named Premier League Young Player of the Year and he’s now been nominated for both PFA Players’ Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year, with the winners set to be announced on August 20th.
Merson’s warning for Palmer
Palmer wasn’t part of Chelsea’s tour of America as he was having some well earned time off following his exploits with England at Euro 2024.
The England international got his first minutes of pre-season as he came on as a halftime substitute in last Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Inter Milan at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea rewarded Palmer for his fine form with a new two year contract extension, which was announced on Tuesday and ties him down to the club until 2033.
The Blues will be expecting Palmer to deliver for them again this season as they try to get back into the Champions League, but it will be a tough task for him to replicate his form from the last campaign.
Sky Sports pundit Merson believes Palmer will struggle and warned he will be a marked man in the upcoming season.
“He’s had an unbelievable season and he is a good player but this season every [opposition] team talk is going to be ‘Stop Cole Palmer playing,'” he told Sky Sports.
“He’s got that now the whole time. And now you’re giving him a nine-year contract?
“I’m not sure [he will score 15 goals]. Last season he was unreal. This season he is marked.
“We’ve seen it a million times, like with [Emmanuel] Adebayor. He ripped it up at Arsenal, got a new contract and was marked.
“It’s going to be hard. If he gets 15 goals next season I’ll be like ‘wow, fair play to you’, 15 is a lot of goals.”
It will be interesting to see how Palmer deals with the added expectation this season, but if his career is anything to go by he will just take it all in his stride and you wouldn’t bet against him producing the goods again.
