Why Chelsea’s Cole Palmer is signing of the season so far

LONDON — It's that time of year when the conversation turns to the Premier League's valuation of signing for the season and it will take a compelling argument to suggest that anyone except Chelsea's Cole Palmer , deserves this distinction. Another goal and assist in Monday's 3-2 win over Newcastle only boosted his credentials.

Chelsea have certainly made enough signings in the last two windows to secure at least one, but Palmer, who sealed a £40 million move from Manchester City on deadline day last September, has been a revelation.

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The 21-year-old has scored 19 Premier League goals for Chelsea this season – 11 goals and eight assists – and in terms of players aged 21 or under in Europe's big five leagues, only Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham has recorded as many goals as his English teammate.

Arsenal fans will say Declan Rice overshadowed Palmer in his first season at the Emirates following his £105m move from West Ham, but the size of Rice's fee, compared to Palmer's, rules out the middle Gunners field. Dominik Szoboszlai. Alexis Mac Allister and Wataru Endo have made a big impact at Liverpool and Micky van de Ven has transformed Tottenham's defense, but when everything is considered, no new signing has been as important to their new team as Palmer.

Chelsea's struggles this season have been well documented and this win against Newcastle still wasn't enough to lift them into the top half of the Premier League table. But if they hadn't been able to count on Palmer's goals and his ability to create them, a poor season would have been much worse for Mauricio Pochettino's side.

“He’s fine,” Pochettino said in his post-match press conference. “He arrived on the last day of the window, but it was very easy for him to adapt to the demands of the team. He is showing his quality and it is good to have him in the team. We We didn't have a player who could link (play), but he's doing a fantastic job and getting better every game.

Palmer, whose elegance on and off the ball was clearly enhanced by his years at City's Academy, became Chelsea's poster boy and talisman.

Against Newcastle, he thought he had opened the scoring in the sixth minute when his low left-footed shot from 20 yards beat goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka, but replays showed that the slightest touch from Nicolas Jackson diverted the ball into the net. Yet it was Palmer's creativity and ambition that led to this goal and it has been a common thread throughout their season.

In contrast, Raheem Sterling, the first big signing under the club's new ownership regime in the summer of 2022, continues to look for the form displayed by Palmer from day one at Stamford Bridge.

Sterling's England career is clearly over, judging by his continued absence from Gareth Southgate's teams, but if the national manager had any lingering doubts about the former Liverpool and City striker, they would have been erased by his latest disappointing performance in this match.

But with Palmer, it was a different story. He simply makes things happen with his movements, his passes or his willingness to shoot when half a chance presents itself. While Alexander Isak equalized for Newcastle in the 43rd minute after an assist from Miguel Almirón, Palmer put Chelsea back in control by making it 2-1 in the 57th minute with a left-footed strike that headed in towards the net, this time without deviation.

No matter how this season ends, it will not be considered a success by Chelsea. They could still win the FA Cup (Pochettino's side face EFL Championship leaders Leicester at home in the quarter-finals on Sunday), but they have no chance of qualifying for the Champions League, so the impact Financial of this will be felt in the transfer window. and beyond.

But Palmer offers a glimmer of hope for a better future alongside Malo Gusto, Conor Gallagher and Enzo Fernández.

“There is so much talent around Chelsea that the fans don't see and you [the media] “I don’t see it,” Palmer told Sky Sports after the match. “If it’s not next season, the season after that, you’ll see it sooner or later.”

Persuading Gallagher to sign a new contract and stay at the club this summer will be crucial to Pochettino's rebuilding plans, but the challenge of getting Romeo Lavia and Christopher Nkunku fit enough to offer more than the limited contributions they managed this season will be just as important. .

“The problem is that the team has to be more mature, play more time together,” Pochettino told reporters. “We have to understand that we are Chelsea and when we are under pressure it is completely different. But we are trying to explain that we are in a different Chelsea, that we are building something different and that it will be difficult.”

Mykhailo Mudryk is another who could yet prove profitable after struggling to justify his £88million transfer fee since arriving from Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2023. Mudryk secured Chelsea's victory by scoring at the 76th minute – a goal which made Jacob Murphy's superb 90th minute response a mere late consolation for Newcastle.

Mudryk is one of many Chelsea players who have yet to live up to expectations, but in the Stamford Bridge dressing room only Palmer has exceeded them. He is the shining light in Chelsea's line-up of young and often expensive talent. If Pochettino can motivate more to perform like Palmer, Chelsea will be a much more competitive team next season.