Cole Palmer Set to Shine Again at Chelsea
Xabi Alonso insists Cole Palmer has put his injury nightmare behind him and is ready to rediscover the joy in his game at Chelsea.
Palmer endured a stuttering 2025-26 campaign, restricted to 26 Premier League appearances and 10 goals, a sharp dip from the electric standards of his first two seasons at Stamford Bridge. The numbers told only part of the story. At times, he moved like a player carrying something heavy — the groin problem that wiped out most of his first three months and never truly loosened its grip.
The lack of sharpness cost him dearly. His creativity dropped, his influence waned, and his name was missing when Thomas Tuchel read out England’s World Cup squad list. Instead of a global stage, Palmer was handed something he had not experienced since 2022: a full summer without competitive football.
Now, Alonso believes that reset has changed everything.
“Cole is determined to enjoy his football,” the Chelsea manager 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.”
Those words carry weight because of what came before. Palmer’s problems started brutally early last season. In August, he was pulled from the starting XI shortly before kick-off in a 5-1 win at West Ham, the first clear sign that something was badly wrong.
From there, his year never quite recovered. He featured only twice more in the league before December. When he finally returned to regular action, he stayed on the pitch — missing just two league matches from that point — but never truly looked like the same player who had lit up Stamford Bridge in previous campaigns.
Chelsea suffered alongside him. The team spluttered, misfired, and limped to a 10th-place finish.
Tuchel underlined the extent of the issue in March, admitting Palmer had been unable to fully extend his groin after coming back from injury. Every sprint, every twist, every attempt to change direction carried a reminder.
Alonso, though, is convinced that chapter is closed.
Asked before Monday’s Premier League opener at Fulham whether Palmer’s injury troubles were now behind him, he did not hesitate.
“Yes,” he said. “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 timing of Palmer’s resurgence could be pivotal. Chelsea arrive at Craven Cottage with a new manager, new ideas and a fresh wave of signings ready to step into the spotlight. Maxence Lacroix, Morgan Rogers and Marco Palestra are all in line for debuts in a west London derby that will offer an early glimpse of Alonso’s blueprint.
For all the new faces, though, one question will hang over Chelsea’s season: if Cole Palmer really is free, fit and flowing again, how high can his ceiling – and theirs – actually be?
