Carragher claims Chelsea’s new ‘main man’ has a ‘great chance’ of going to Euro 2024 with England
Jamie Carragher believes Chelsea’s “main man” Cole Palmer is staking a claim to be included in Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 England squad.
Palmer was a part of the Manchester City squad that won the Treble last season, playing 25 times across all competitions but only starting on seven occasions, three of which came in the one competition they didn’t win, the Carabao Cup.
After a strong summer with the European Championship-winning England Under-21s, the Cityzens youth graduate was snapped up by Chelsea for a fee in the region of £40million.
Mauricio Pochettino has made the 21-year-old a regular starter at Stamford Bridge and Palmer has repaid the faith with some terrific performances.
He was in fine form on Sunday in the Blues’ breathtaking 4-4 draw against his former club in the Premier League, scoring an injury-time equaliser from the penalty spot.
Now with four goals and four assists in 11 appearances for the Londoners, many feel that Palmer has been handed the keys to Pochettino’s attack, a responsibility that he is relishing.
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Former England and Liverpool centre-back Carragher waxed lyrical about the young attacker following Sunday’s draw at Stamford Bridge, saying that Palmer will have enjoyed his first couple of months at Chelsea more than the entire Treble-winning campaign at City.
“What stands out for me is that I admire him for leaving Manchester City,” Carragher told Sky Sports. “I get frustrated by players who are at big football clubs that don’t really play.
“They’ll say they’ve won the Champions League, the league three times, they’ve done this and they’ve done that. But we all know they’re a squad player.
“They come off the bench every now and again. I admire the fact he’s moved to Chelsea because he’ll be feeling a lot better in these four to six weeks than he probably ever has done at Manchester City, no matter what medal he’s picked up.
“We all know as players, in your heart of hearts, you know when you deserve a medal – when you’ve been a big part of something.
“When you’re on the outside looking in, it doesn’t feel great. So he’ll feel an awful lot better, even if he’s at Chelsea the next two or three years and he picks up just a Carabao Cup or one FA Cup.
“He’ll feel his body of work here, if he continues the way he’s going, is a lot better than what he’s done at Manchester City and the medals he might have won. It’s nonsense to me, to be honest.”
Carragher added that Palmer is now looking like “the main man” in Pochettino’s system and is a dark horse to go to the Euros in Germany next year.
“Everyone plays a part, but you all know when you’ve played a major part in a team’s success,” he continued. “He’s a major part now in this Chelsea team and he almost feels like the main man.
“He’s part of the group of players I feel who are making a late surge for the tournament next summer for England. The way he’s playing right now, you feel there’s a great chance he could end up in that Euros squad.”
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