Xabi Alonso has called Cole Palmer ‘world-class’ and has backed the Chelsea midfielder for a ‘great season’.
Palmer scored 10 league goals last season, but struggled with injuries during a mixed 2025/26 campaign and missed out on a place in the England squad for the 2026 World Cup.
The 24-year-old has had an extended summer of rest as a result, a situation that Alonso believes will benefit the Blues.
Chelsea start their Premier League season with a West London Derby against Fulham tonight, and Alonso said Palmer is determined to bounce back from last season’s struggles.
“Cole is determined to enjoy his football,” Alonso told chelseafc.com.
“He wants to be fit. He wants to feel healthy. He wants to have a good connection with the players around him. And 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.
“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.”
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