There was a really interesting moment in the Athletic podcast about Cole Palmer today.
Looking back at the way he broke into the Chelsea team, writer Liam Twomey says that he “what’s astonishing is that he emerged, almost fully formed at this star level.”
It’s almost exactly a year since Palmer forced his way into Mauricio Pochettino’s first XI, and a good time to remember just how smooth and natural that was. He came off the bench, looked good, started games, looked great. And that was that. From that point he’s scored and assisted constantly. There was no build up, no bedding in, no finding his feet.
One moment he was a talented player you’d seen flashes of for Man City, the next he was a Chelsea player producing goals and assists and match winning performances in the manner of some of the club’s greatest players. It was so incredibly instant. We almost still can’t get our head around it now. No matter how many times we see him play like one of the best players in the league, it still seems so sudden..
You can see Twomey making his comments in the clip embedded here, with this line coming after 1 minute and 30 seconds:
Palmer still rising and set for another historic season
We can’t wait to see where Palmer goes from here. He achieved what he did last year despite a team that didn’t always function well, and in a squad stretched by injury. All signs so far point to this being a better season for the team, and that can only help Cole. He can be rested when he needs to be rested, without hurting the team ‘s chances too much.
It won’t take long, if he keeps playing like this, for him to hit truly historic numbers.