Chelsea star Cole Palmer had to settle for the bench at Euro 2024.
England manager Gareth Southgate went with an attack of Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka.
There was no room for Cole Palmer, yet he still managed to make a big impact during the tournament.
As a substitute, Palmer was able to score one goal and provide one assist, with those contributions coming in the semi-finals and the final itself.
After watching Palmer make such an impact in the final, Chelsea fans have not held back as they took to social media to question Southgate’s decision not to start him. Jeff Stelling thinks Palmer was actually England’s best player at the Euros despite not even being in their first XI.
Chelsea fans start Cole Palmer and Phil Foden debate
Foden was named Premier League Player of the Season last term as he helped Manchester City to win another title.
Nevertheless, some Chelsea supporters feel that Palmer is a better player and should have been starting ahead of him at Euro 2024.
One Chelsea fan said on X: “Palmer has just proven why he’s levels above Saka and Foden. Neither of them can do what Palmer just did. It took Palmer two minutes to make his mark on this match.”
Another said: “It’s actually crazy! Palmer is not only one or two levels over Saka and Foden. He is miles ahead of both.”
One Chelsea supporter posted: “Btw Palmer is better than Foden.”
Another simply wrote: “Palmer>Foden. Foden should be a bench player.”
And finally, another user posted: “Cole Palmer is better than Saka, Foden and Bellingham.”
Should Cole Palmer have started ahead of Phil Foden for England?
It was not fair for Palmer to have been left out of England’s starting XI.
While Foden obviously had an incredible 2023/24 campaign, so did Palmer. In fact, despite not winning the awards that his teammate did, he arguably had a better one.
No player actually managed to record more goal contributions in the Premier League than Palmer.
In the 33 games he played for Chelsea, the England international registered 33.
Simply put, Palmer really had to start, either at the expense of Foden or Saka. Had he, who knows? Maybe England would have got over the finishing line on Sunday.
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