Chelsea completed a £42.5million deal for Palmer on transfer deadline day and eyebrows were raised over the size of the fee, considering the 21-year-old had only made 19 appearances in the English top flight with Pep Guardiola’s City.
But Palmer has enjoyed a phenomenal debut season in what has otherwise been a disappointing campaign for Chelsea, with Mauricio Pochettino’s men languishing down in tenth in the table.
A stunning hat-trick to steer the Blues to a thrilling 4-3 victory over Manchester United in midweek, which included the latest winning goal in the history of the Premier League, took Palmer’s tally to 19 goals in all competitions this term.
The former City man – who was handed his senior England debut last November – has also racked up eight assists in the league, with only five players bettering his total with nine games remaining of the campaign.
Discussing Palmer’s success at Stamford Bridge, ex-Chelsea winger Cole named the ‘outstanding’ forward as his signing of the season and argued that he was a shoo-in for Gareth Southgate’s England squad ahead of 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.
Legendary ex-United and England defender Ferdinand, meanwhile, highlighted the way Palmer has been able to handle the pressure by approaching games like he’s having a kick-about ‘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 is not worried about Palmer being able to step up should Southgate throw the Chelsea star into high-stakes England games at this summer’s European Championships.
‘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.’
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