Cole Palmer, the Man That You Are

    For a few years now Chelsea Football Club has been, in nicer terms, a complete and utter disappointment. They’ve been a disaster, like a dumpster fire bad. Ever since the ownership crisis in 2022 left the club in the hands of a greedy man who knows nothing about the sport, Chelsea has fallen on a swift demise. Failing to qualify for the Champions League, spending a record €435.5 million ($4.65 million) on underperforming players, manager changes every month and being unable to crack into the top 10 of the Premier League Table. Not to mention the full roster worth of players on injured reserve just on a rotation. You name the problem, Chelsea has it covered. For a while, it seemed like life was never going to get better.

    Enter Cole Palmer. The 21-year-old midfielder is, as Foreigner would say, as cold as ice. Since transferring from Manchester City on Sept. 1, 2023, Palmer has carried the Chelsea franchise on his back. He’s scored 23 goals with 13 assists in just 38 appearances, tying front-runner, favorite, and former teammate Erling Haaland in the Golden Boot race. While just about every performance from Palmer is solid, his excellence shined through during a 4-3 stoppage-time victory against Machester United where he scored a hat-trick with two of the goals coming in the 90+ minutes of the game. More recently he became the first player since Diego Costa in the 2016-17 season to score 20 Premiere League goals in a single season when he tallied four goals in one game against Everton. 

Not only is Palmer a standout player by himself, but he is also bettering the players around him. All those underperforming players the club spent millions of dollars on are beginning to show promise. The midfield is meshing, the forwards are beginning to figure out how to finish a shot and the center-back situation is getting there. Still with a lot of players out due to injury, there is some constant turnover, however, with Palmer at the center, I don’t see why the club should be struggling. He’s like the final infinity stone the club needed. And while the haters will point out that the majority of his goals are penalties, it doesn’t matter. My motto is: It doesn’t matter how the ball gets across the line, as long as it gets there. It takes a lot of focus and confidence to stand in front of millions and shoot a ball knowing all of the pressure that’s resting on your shoulders. The kid is 9/9 on penalty kicks this season. That’s almost unheard of in the soccer world. He’s got ice running through his veins, nothing phases him. 

    With recent wins and a continued run in the FA Cup, things may actually be looking up for the club. Many fans, myself included, have learned not to get their hopes up too quickly due to a not-so-stellar track record, but this may just be the start of the club returning to its former glory. Cole Palmer, the man you are. The backbone of not only this team but this franchise. You are going to carry us to glory.