COLE PALMER is already a Champions League winner.
But to the ambitious young star, the medal he picked up as a non-playing substitute in Manchester City’s 2023 triumph over Inter Milan doesn’t mean a lot.
During what turned out to be his final season at City, he made his only start in the competition in a dead rubber group game against Sevilla.
For the rest of the campaign, including the final in Istanbul, he sat on the bench as a no doubt frustrated observer.
Palmer, now 23, said: “I always say, I don’t feel like a Champions League winner, if I’m being honest.
“It doesn’t really mean anything to me.
“People say it, but I weren’t involved.
“Obviously I played in the group stage and stuff like that, but it’s not the same, is it?
“I’ve not threw the medal away! I’ve still got it, but it’s not like I feel like I’ve won it.”
Palmer thoroughly earned the winner’s medal he received for Chelsea’s Conference League triumph last month.
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He gave a second-half masterclass as the Blues came from a goal down to beat Real Betis 4-1 and become the first club to complete a full set of Uefa trophies.
But it’s a competition that Palmer and Chelsea hope to have left behind for good.
For the club’s status and bank balance, the victory over Nottingham Forest that guaranteed a return to the Champions League after a two-year absence, was far more important.
Palmer said: “Everyone at Chelsea wanted to be in the Champions League.
“No disrespect to the Conference League or whatever, but Champions League is the biggest competition.
“We finished well. We had some tough games
“We had that little spell in the season where we weren’t too great.
“Everyone was saying they’re not gonna get Champions League and that.
“So to get it was good. Getting that at Forest was a relief”
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But Palmer’s display against Betis will have been something of a relief to him, even if he would not put in quite those terms.
It was a timely return of the Cole Palmer who had made himself into one of the world’s biggest young stars
Because after picking up where he had left off in his stunning debut season for the Blues, scoring and creating goals for fun, the second half of the 2024/5 campaign was a tough one.
As the run of games without a goal or even an assist grew longer and longer, it looked like Palmer was feeling the pressure.
His spectacular transformation from City youth player to Chelsea’ main man created expectation, and he was not living up to it.
Even the famously cool young man was just a little concerned.
Palmer said: “I know myself players will go through it. I’m not stupid.
“But then you go into Chelsea and you do that from a jump, and then you go into a dip, you just think, ‘What’s going on?’.
“I don’t mind. Obviously I did mind, but I didn’t think it was the end of the world.
“I just think it was one of them things when things weren’t happening for me.
“I went on a bit longer than I thought it would go on. But I spoke to people about it and they explained it was going to happen.
“But they said that when I get out of it, I’ll be an even better player than what I was before I went in it.”
Which would be great news for Chelsea and for England.
Although Palmer is very much the Blues’ key man, at international level he has a fight on his hands to be the creative hub of the team.
Which feels even stranger because he is one of only four England players to have scored a goal in a major final.
For most of Euro 2024, Three Lions fans were crying out for Palmer to be given more of a chance to inject some life into Gareth Southgate’s struggling team.
And when he was brought on in the final against Spain, he grabbed a brilliant equaliser.
Palmer recalled: “An occasion like that if you think about it, it might get the better of you. So I just try not to.
“I was just getting ready to come on like all the other games I came on, try and make an impact.
“I thought, ‘It’s the final, the last game, we’re losing, I’ve got nothing to lose’. Well, we did, the biggest game of our career, but you know what I mean.
“So yeah, that’s what I was trying to do.
“At the time, I didn’t really realise how big that goal was. It was only when the tournament finished and I went home and looked back.”
But it’s about looking forward now, for Palmer, Chelsea and England.
Real Madrid star and Champions League winner Jude Bellingham is the man in possession of the No 10 role for England.
If both he and Palmer start Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Andorra, the Chelsea man could find himself out wide.
But at least next season, he will be playing in the same European competition as Bellingham and the biggest stars of the game.
And trying to earn a medal for real.
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DELAP BREAKOUT
COLE Palmer is delighted that former Manchester City team-mate Liam Delap has opted to join the Blues.
The pair, who grew up together in the City Academy, will be reunited at Stamford Bridge after the Blues confirmed they had completed a £30m deal with Ipswich for centre forward Delap.
Palmer said: “I’m excited to play with him. I was messaging him asking If he was coming and that.
“I played with him at Under 18s, 21s. We went to the first team together.
“He’s a great striker, one of the best in the Premier League. You can see from last season.
“So I think he’ll help us a lot and hopefully score lots of goals.”
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