Xabi Alonso Expects World-Class Cole Palmer to Shine at Chelsea

Cole Palmer has his body back. Now, Xabi Alonso expects the rest of the Premier League to be reminded of his talent.

The Chelsea manager insists the 24-year-old has finally shaken off the groin problems that ruined his last campaign and cost him a place at the World Cup, and says he sees a player ready to enjoy football again rather than fight through it.

“Cole is determined to enjoy his football,” Alonso said. “He wants to be fit. He wants to feel healthy. He wants to have a good connection with the players around him.

“I’ve said that if we have this Cole and we are able to reach him and he feels that flow in the game and that he connects well with the players, I’m sure that his level is top class, world class I would say, and that he will have a great season.”

A year to forget

Palmer’s numbers last season tell the story of a stop-start, frustrating year. He made just 26 Premier League appearances, scoring 10 goals, and never truly hit the heights of his first two seasons at Stamford Bridge.

The problems started before the campaign had even settled. In August, he was pulled from the starting XI shortly before kick-off in Chelsea’s 5-1 win at West Ham, the groin injury that followed wiping out most of his first three months. From there, he was always chasing fitness, never quite catching it.

He featured only twice more in the league before December. After that, the appearances came regularly enough – he missed only two league matches in the run-in – but the sharpness didn’t. His creativity dipped, his movement looked restricted, and Chelsea, misfiring around him, limped to 10th.

By March, then-manager Thomas Tuchel was openly acknowledging the issue, revealing Palmer had been unable to fully extend his groin after returning to action. The World Cup door closed soon after, with Palmer omitted from Tuchel’s England squad.

One small consolation: for the first time since 2022, the forward had a summer without competitive football, a rare stretch to reset both body and mind.

Alonso sees a different Palmer

Alonso, preparing for his first Premier League game in charge when Chelsea visit Fulham at Craven Cottage on Monday, was clear when asked if Palmer’s physical problems were now behind him.

“Yes,” he replied. “I think that sometimes you need to go through a difficult moment with an injury or whatever to learn from that.

“I think that Cole has gone through a difficult period with the injury, and now he’s working really hard to have the prevention not to have to feel those symptoms.

“Since the first day, he’s been working really hard to avoid that.”

The message is simple: no more compromises, no more managing pain. Chelsea want the version of Palmer who drifts between the lines, links attacks, and finishes moves with the calm of a seasoned forward, not the one grimacing through games and checking his stride.

New faces, new stakes

Chelsea will not be short of fresh energy around him. Alonso is expected to hand debuts to several summer signings in the west London derby, with Maxence Lacroix, Morgan Rogers and Marco Palestra all available.

A new manager, new teammates, and a clean bill of health. For Palmer, stripped of excuses and finally free of the injury that dragged him down, this season offers something stark and enticing: a straight fight to prove he really is as “world class” as his manager believes.