how did Cole Palmer become the Premier League's best player seemingly overnight he's on track for the Golden Boot and is the front runner for play of the year but if you had said this would be the case at the start of the Season you'd be called crazy so how did we get here well the truth is the main thing holding him back was Pep Guardiola and Cole Palmer has now provided the perfect blueprint for other high potential young players to follow we'll talk about how his potential was finally fully unlocked and the secret to what
makes Cole Palmer so good anyone who watched Palmer at the Academy level knew the talent this kid had he played as a number 10/ right winger with great speed and was Shifty on the ball his technical ability is what stood out the most with a deadly left foot passing dribbling finishing he could do it all his coaches were the first to Heap so much praise onto a kid that was clearly levels above the rest it wasn't until 2022 when he started getting game time in the first team at 19 scoring against swind in FA Cup
and even getting a goal in the Champions League whenever he played he was full of confidence his cameos were impressive but by the 2223 season he still wasn't getting that much game time when he did play you could tell he had a point to prove against Chelsea at the end of the season he wasn't afraid of running at the veteran Defender aspa multiple times even assisting the only goal of the game too it wasn't a perfect performance but you can see the signs of someone special he was clearly getting on the manager radar because to
start the 2324 Four Season he came off the bench against Arsenal in an intense Community shield and like it was nothing scores a worldy with his left foot wrapping the ball into the back of the net that was enough for him to actually start the UFA super Cup against Sevilla where he once again got on the scoret a lovely ball in by rodri with the elite Movement by Palmer to get on the end of it and score a looping header against two big clubs in two big games Palmer had scored in both it was clear
to Cole that he was good enough to play against Europeans top sides but that wasn't what Pep Guardiola had in mind see Palmer is 21 years old and up until this point as a c player he only played 1,481 first team minutes if we compare that to the other big Academy prospects folden Rico Lewis and Oscar Bob by the same age folden had over 62,000 minutes Rico Lewis who's only 19 has over 3,000 minutes with only Oscar Bob who turns 21 in July lower with 804 minutes Palmer was severely lagging behind in first te minutes
at 21 he simply wasn't playing enough the sad truth was that wasn't going to change either he was already behind Bernardo mahz and foden and when marz left pep then brought in another Winger in Jeremy dku to make the attacking positions more cramped up pep told him he can't be loaned so either he stays or get sold in that moment Palmer had a massive choice to make stay at the club you've been at since 6 or leave deep down he knew staying at City it was going to be impossible to get the minutes he needs
to fully develop his game so crazy enough he told pep he wants out pep even told him Mars is leaving so you have a chance to play but Palmer wasn't hearing it Chelsea came knocking and spent a massive £40 million on him for someone with 1 and a half th000 minutes of first team football that was insane but clearly they saw something in him most didn't in fact only a few knew how big this transfer was for Chelsea specifically this one guy in the comment of the athletic announed Palmer departure wow sensation I'm convinced City
have made catastrophic error Palmer is going to be a superstar some fans thought Palmer joining Chelsea for game time was silly but realistically there were maybe one or two players that might have rivaled him compared to the six players firmly ahead of him at se it was a risk for bmer but like I said the kid knew he was good he always played with a ton of confidence and to him this was a no-brainer and boy how right he was he immediately started getting minutes and it didn't take long until Palmer was dubbed the best
player at Chelsea being the first name on the team she every week his Elite technical ability we saw at city was on full display his dribbling is super effective being able to switch directions quickly and lose his opponent with finishing that actually Rivals some of the best number Nines in the league he has become a goalscoring machine with some beautiful finishes being able to place the ball right into the corner where no keeper can reach combined that with his playmaking too with a wide passing range even though he plays as a number 10 or right
winger you'll see him drop deep to receive the ball and show off that Elite passing range setting his team up for easy chances while showcasing all of that is good the one thing palman needs to get way more credit for is his insane football IQ he is constantly making the right decisions in most scenarios on the attack you can see him process the defense and make the right choice to best help with the team attack op to pass when most players would shoot or try and create space on the dribble no doubt his time with
pep helped a lot but his IQ stems further his pressing ability and interceptions that lead to goal scoring chances are genuinely ridiculous I honestly don't think I've seen a player do this more than him I can name seven occasions of this alone against Fulham he intercepts a pass that leads to a goal big that could be for him it's gifted here to Palmer Bri against Villa he expertly reads long L's pass but can't convert against Arsenal he cut off ry's pass which almost leads to a goal but they were let off against middles BR but
it didn't lead to a goal what an awful clerance against Luton he did this and had the elite finish to match mistake he did this against midb again with a goal this time oh mistake has given Palmer the ball he can score and he did it against Everton where he baits pford to make the pass through the middle and pounces on it before lifting it over pford with his weak foot to seal his second hattrick of the season the level of intelligence to do that on such a consistent level is simply wild class he also
has great off ball movement always running into areas with lots of space he just knows when and where to run it just looks so natural for him best example is against luten where he instinctively just knows when to run and behind to get three on goal before calmly rolling the ball past the goalkeeper sending two Defenders on their bike and slotting the ball away ice cold just like MW said finish from him wasn't it yeah that's why they call him cold Palmer is it this is now becoming what he is most known for ice cold
Under Pressure that's why he takes the pressure penalties for Chelsea not only is he 9 for9 on penalties this season but he scored massive pens including a 99th minute equalizer against United before winning it all L on in that game and even a 94th minute equalizer against his former club and what celebration does he do the ice cold shrug when he was asked if he was nervous taking the penalty his response was did you feel nerves um not really he's been the man for Chelsea this year and poch knows how important he is for the
team the way he reads the situations and what the team needs in every situation he can be the player who can link up with his teammates he is still very very young but with great personality and he has the talent and the quality which we saw as much as Palmer has significantly helped PCH this season it's important to State how much poch has helped Palmer too it's no secret now the reason Palmer can take these risks and have the freedom to play how he does is because poch gives him the license to I think he's
given me the confidence and the the license to go where I want on the pitch where I feel use my strengths so yeah I'm just grateful for it this was the biggest reason why he needed to leave City playing under pep as a young player mistakes are the last thing you can make we've seen how pep reacts even if you're 10n up greish even said himself he feels nervous playing for pep pep doesn't want you to lose the ball I'm thinking I can't lose this ball having that fear as a youngster trying to fight your
way into the team is going to make you play as safe as possible but under poch it's the complete opposite poch has allowed him freedom to roam to try passes even allowing him to shoot from range just looking at his shot map he would never take that many shots outside the box for Man City in his entire career the confidence that gives to your younger players is immense his ability to drop deep and combine with his teammates make deep passes and connect the Midfield and the attack has progressed Chelsea's attack to the next level when
he plays their attack is much more fluid and without him Chelsea would have a lot less goals in fact he contributes the most goals to his team than any other player in the entire league with nearly 50% of Chelsea's goals coming from this man alone he's very closely in the race for Golden Boot at the time of this recording and he's averaging 1.26 goals and assists per 90 minutes which is way above everyone else in the league right now with Salah second at 1.09 and Harland 1.03 Palmer isn't just playing well he's playing like the
best player in the league and for sure has young Player of the Year wrapped up and is making a strong case for players of the year he's actually having one of the best Premier League Seasons we've seen from a young player only two players since 2008 22 or younger have registered 30 or more goals and assist Cristiano Ronaldo with 31 in the 0708 season which won him his first Bal on door and Harland with a massive 44 who won the treble Palmer is going to be joining that club very soon in fact by the time
you watch this he probably already has this Palmer season is already up there as one of the best individual Seasons we've seen from any Chelsea player up there with Hazard drba and even some of lampard's most prolific Seasons so why is co Palmer the blueprint for younger players well he's not the first young player to leave for more game time but his situation was very interesting pep has already admitted it was his fault that Palmer left by not playing him more but to answer the question of do City regret selling him they didn't really have
much choice and this is where we need to commend the 21-year-old he knew how difficult it was going to be to leave City leave his hometown and walk away from the chance to play Under the best manager in the world but he knew his worth he knew the only way to grow as a player was to leave his comfort zone and find a new challenge because imagine if he did stay he wouldn't be in the race for the Golden Boot he wouldn't be young player of the year he wouldn't even have gotten his first England
call up I mean Palmer isn't fighting to go to the Euros anymore he's fighting for a starting role none of that would have happened for him if he didn't make the right choice for himself the example Palmer is setting isn't for the the youth players who are never going to get minutes it's for the youth players with that five-star potential to be truly worldclass players sitting on the bench week in week out begging to get a sniff of game time your progress is being halted and going on loan isn't the solution that only works if
you know the position you're going to play is going to lose two or three players soon but temporarily going to a country you're unfamiliar with not even having a chance to settle in isn't great actually leaving seems more sensible even the kids that move to Big clubs at age with hopes of making it in their first team isn't the right move erard is one that Springs to mind joining Real Madrid at 15 but never having a real path being loaned out left and right never settling into a club hurt his progress more than it helped
eventually he was loaned to Arsenal for 6 months then joined them permanently soon after he was made Arsenal captain and is now fulfilling his true potential and is helping lead Arsenal to potential trophies it's something harand has made sure to avoid in his career moving from from MDA to Saltsburg and after Saltsburg had the choice to go to many clubs but decided to go where he would get game time in Dortmund which skyrocketed his development and eventually earned him a big money move Bellingham and Sano both did the same thing and it paid off for
them someone like Javi Simmons returning to PSG after leaving for PSV only to then go out un known to Leipzig and he still might not have a spot when he returns to PSG is wild igula another one yes he was injured but even after he's returned from injury he's played a popping 98 minutes this season an entire year of no football and there's no PA for him because there's no way he gets into this Real Madrid Squad he'll be loaned out constantly and his growth will slow down it's something a slightly worry might happen to
HRI with mbappe coming in venicius junior Rodrigo go Jude all ahead of him plus more there doesn't seem to be the most obvious pathway for him unless he basically joins and ends up being the best attacker in the world straight away but this Palmer situation extends to the young players who feel some sense of loyalty to the clubs that have helped them become the footballers they are today the truth is game time is more important than loyalty when that club will have no problem kicking you to the curb the biggest example in England right now
is EML Smith row this guy was Arsenal's First Choice left Winger and was playing so well he was getting England call-ups with a few caps under his belt but after one injury setback he's now behind Martin nelli Trad and Jesus at left wing and behind rice and hav at that left sided number eight most Arsenal fans no ESR has to leave to develop but don't want to see him go but he has way too much potential to be riding the bench for the rest of his career there is no pathway for him and he needs
to get out while he can Palmer is by no means the first player to ever do this but he's for sure one of the biggest examples of leaving his hometown because he wasn't playing and instantly becoming one of the best footballers in the world we have never seen someone have the same turnover as him going from relatively unknown to now playing on the international stage he's the blue print of what Young Players today can actually become if they actually prioritize development over big clubs and there's no doubt this guy will only get better from here
on out [Music]
