Micah Richards has just delivered a pretty clear message about Chelsea’s Cole Palmer after back-to-back starts for England during the international break.
Chelsea attacker Cole Palmer, 22, has had a very interesting international period. We’ve seen him dominate in the Premier League this season with the Blues as an out-and-out No 10, but he’s played a couple of different roles for his country.
Palmer started a bit deeper in midfield during last week’s shock 2-1 defeat at home to Greece. Afterwards, he started as the right-winger in England’s 3-1 victory away to Finland on Sunday.
The English media wasn’t overly impressed by Palmer’s performance versus Finland, but it’s a real positive that he’s forcing his way into the starting line-up.
Micah Richards message on Cole Palmer
Micah Richards has delivered a message regarding Chelsea’s Palmer to the England manager, which is a position temporarily held by interim boss Lee Carsley. He insists that the 22-year-old Blues star should be operating centrally in-between the lines rather than on the wing.
“Playing Cole Palmer out on the wing, it just doesn’t work for me,” Richards told ‘The Rest Is Football’.
“I know [Jude] Bellingham is the main man, or they’re making him the main man of this team, but I just think when you’ve got someone as talented as a [Phil] Foden or a [Cole] Palmer, in that number 10 free role, I think he’s better suited there.
“I’d put Bellingham further back, like we discussed in the Euros.”
Cole Palmer so productive as the 10
We’ve seen in the opening months of this season that Palmer’s attacking output is so high when he’s playing in the No 10 position. It’s a credit to Blues head coach Enzo Maresca that it’s something he quickly picked up on.
In seven Premier League matches this season, Palmer has scored six goals and created five assists. It’s pretty obvious when you watch Chelsea that so much of their offensive play goes through him and he picks up possession of the football in so many dangerous positions.
It’s a tough job for England trying to shoehorn the likes of Palmer, Bellingham and Foden into the same line-up. However, we definitely understand suggestions that one of them may need to be dropped from the XI to find the balance of the side.
If Palmer continues to perform for Chelsea in a similar way, his spot in the England team should coincide with that.
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