A lot of discussion surrounding England’s selection headache for the upcoming European Championships has a Chelsea theme to it.
Despite never even being considered for a senior squad less than 12 months ago, Cole Palmer is now pushing to start for his country at the international tournament which gets underway on Friday.
The Blues man is coming up against a number of the world’s best players in a battle for a place in the team, with the likes of Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden also feeling they should be starting.
Palmer was given the start for England in both of the pre-tournament friendlies, and looked the best of a bad bunch in defeat recently to Iceland.
Sutton has made an argument for him to be in the starting side, and actually think his inexperience at big tournaments could actually play into his hands.
Sutton backs Palmer to start for England
He said to BBC Radio 5 Live: “Also, Cole Palmer, you look at his season at Chelsea. I mean, the guy is absolutely fearless. There are arguments on both sides for the experienced players who have performed, but you can also argue that experienced players can carry a burden of previous tournaments, whereas Cole Palmer is going in fresh.
“We have seen him look totally fearless for Chelsea. He has carried Chelsea, who have had an awful season. He has carried them this season, so him going in and feeling confident and free, I think that works in England’s favour.”
Palmer is not the only England player who has staked his claim to feature for his country this summer. Conor Gallagher has also got a strong argument for minutes in the middle of the park.
It looks as if Gareth Southgate is struggling to find a partner for Declan Rice that he is fully comfortable with in the midfield, and the Chelsea man’s brilliant campaign for his club is certainly a plus for him.
Chelsea as a club are going to be well represented at the tournament, and they added one more player to that list earlier this week when it was announced Ian Maatsen was going to be a late call-up to the Netherlands side.