“I am a player who always wants the ball … anywhere,” Cole Palmer says, and he certainly wanted it on Sunday; 92 minutes on the clock, his new club, Chelsea, 4-3 down against his old one, Manchester City, but now with a penalty for an improbable draw at Stamford Bridge. “When I saw the ref give it, I thought: ‘It’s my time,’” he says.
Palmer had a word with his teammate Raheem Sterling, another former City player, and told him that, yes, he wanted it. “Raz was like: ‘Fine,’” Palmer says, and it was easy to see a parallel to Chelsea’s game at Burnley in early October when Sterling won a penalty at 1-1 and the ball just seemed to find Palmer.
The 21-year-old was not the designated taker that day but he could see the opportunity to score his first Premier League goal and he is not the kind of person to pass that up. “I looked at Raz because he won it and then he said: ‘Take it,’” Palmer says. “It was just an in‑game thing, really.”
Palmer scored. Just as he did when Chelsea were given penalties at 0-0 against Arsenal and 1-0 down at Tottenham. The one against City, though, was bigger still. The narrative strands around it were compelling and it added up to a moment of the purest pressure, which only seemed to deepen as players from both sides were pulled apart and VAR checks were completed, a good few minutes ticking by.
Was Palmer nervous? He shrugs. He does that a lot. It is a quintessentially Mancunian brand of nonchalance. “Not really to be honest,” he replies. “I felt I was waiting for a while. So I did think about my old club and stuff but after that not really.”
Palmer scored and he would celebrate with a shrug. “I spent 15 years at City,” he says. “I can’t really go and celebrate how I would [normally] celebrate if I have scored a 95th-minute equaliser because it would have been disrespectful, so I just decided to do a shrug. I don’t know why.”
Palmer has lived a whirlwind period, beginning with being a part of England’s European Under-21 Championship triumph in the summer. He started the season with goals for City in the Community Shield and the European Super Cup. Then there was the £40m deadline-day move to Chelsea. His Stamford Bridge career has ignited and there would be even more when he checked his phone after Sunday’s game. Gareth Southgate had given him a first senior England call-up for the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia.
“A bonus,” Palmer calls it, saying that England recognition had not been in his thoughts when he made the difficult decision to leave City for Chelsea. “I got the message right after the match,” he says. “My phone was going crazy as I have City fans who are my mates and I have family and stuff. But then I read it and read it again. It was confirmed. I rang my dad straight away and he was with my mum so I told them.”
It is interesting to hear Palmer rake over his transfer; funny, too, at times when he considers his new life down south. “The most annoying thing? The traffic – that’s the biggest thing for me. Everything else … I am enjoying it. It is hotter than Manchester, as well.
“It was a big move for me. I’d never been out of Manchester [as a player], not even on loan, so to move down there on my own was a big thing. When I first went down there it was difficult. I was staying in a hotel but now I have settled in more.”
Palmer was frustrated with his lack of game time at City and it had been in his mind to consider leaving. But when push came to shove – or, to put it another way – when City prioritised the addition of Jérémy Doku, Palmer had to decide quickly. He had a positive phone call with Mauricio Pochettino and he was aware of the Chelsea manager’s well‑earned reputation for developing young talent. There was soul-searching. And then there was clarity, characteristic conviction.
“I was thinking about it for a couple of days, every minute of the day,” Palmer says. “I didn’t know what to do. It was a really tough decision. And then I thought for my career, I had to go and get regular game time. The competition that’s there [at City], the players that were there, the players they were going to try and sign … so I wasn’t sure [about staying]. I looked at the Chelsea squad and thought: ‘If I go there and know what I can do, then I’ll have the chance of playing.’ Thankfully it’s happened.”
Palmer’s mischievous side was there for everyone to see in the last minute of stoppage time on Sunday when City got a free-kick outside the Chelsea area and their players huddled together to discuss it. Palmer stuck his head in, too; perhaps he could blend in as a friend rather than a foe? A smiling Erling Haaland was having none of it and he ushered him away.
“I was just having a laugh,” Palmer says. “I didn’t hear anything. Erling found it pretty funny but I don’t think the others did.”
What shines through with Palmer is the self-assurance, the fearlessness. There were times when his England press conference threatened to become uncomfortable because his answers were short or a little terse. Could he compare Pep Guardiola with Pochettino? A pause, a shrug. “Don’t know. Next question.” Which players did he pretend to be in his garden growing up? “Loads of players … too many.” Could he name some? “[Wayne] Rooney, [Cristiano] Ronaldo, [Lionel] Messi. All of them.”
Yet it was of a piece with a young man in control of the situation, of every situation. This is his time.
