One player at Chelsea should be quite alarmed by the recent comments from his teammate.
Cole Palmer, 22, is one of the few players in the Blues squad that has an upper hand going into next season.
This is because he’s previously worked under Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca at Manchester City.
You’d expect that any incoming manager at Stamford Bridge would be looking at Palmer as an integral player after what he did last season. The England attacker scored 25 goals and made 15 assists in 45 appearances last year as a Chelsea player.
The Chelsea Chronicle thinks that Palmer’s latest comments will put club teammate Noni Madueke a bit on edge.
What Cole Palmer has said
Chelsea’s Palmer has spoken very positively about Maresca and his working relationship with him.
Interestingly, he shared the detail that he was the manager that first played him as a right-winger while in Manchester City’s Under-23s team.
Palmer said via The Telegraph: “Enzo was the one who put me at right-wing. So from the [under] 18s I was playing [number] 10 and when I went to the 23s Enzo played me on the right. That was my first full season on the right.
“He’s a good coach, a really good coach. I think tactically he knows what he is doing. He will improve a lot of the players.”
Why Noni Madueke should be worried
For Madueke, it must be concerning to hear that Maresca likes playing Palmer on the right wing.
Madueke is an out-and-out wide man that you usually only see playing on the right flank, where he loves to cut infield on his stronger left foot.
The £29m attacker (Sky Sports) will hope he can have a big season next year after 18 months as a Chelsea player so far.
However, if he’s competing with Palmer for the same position in the XI, he’s surely second favourite in that race.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that Maresca will use Palmer on the right wing next season. He’s equally as effective centrally as a No 10 playmaker, where it’s easier to get on the ball in-between the lines.
The position of Palmer in the side is in turn likely to have a huge knock on effect on Madueke.
We’ll only see in time how this unfolds once Maresca has assessed his options.
But if Palmer is viewed mainly as a winger, it could spell very bad news for Madueke.
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