Rio Ferdinand has suggested that Chelsea’s Cole Palmer should have featured in the England win over Serbia on Sunday.
England kicked off their Euro 2024 tournament with a 1-0 victory against Serbia in the group stages, with Jude Bellingham scoring the winning goal.
Chelsea supporters got to see Conor Gallagher, 24, come off the bench for Gareth Southgate’s team.
As for Cole Palmer, the Blues attacker was an unused substitute and stayed on the England bench.
The 22-year-old had the most sensational debut season at Stamford Bridge last year, which included 25 goals and 15 assists in Chelsea colours. However, is path into the England XI is complicated due to stiff competition for places.
Rio Ferdinand claim about Cole Palmer
Rio Ferdinand has claimed that England boss Southgate should have used Palmer off the bench against Serbia.
The Three Lions dropped off a bit in the second half as players tired, but thankfully the defence held out for a clean sheet and three points.
According to Ferdinand, Chelsea’s Palmer would have been the perfect option for England because of the way he’s so comfortable with the ball is feet and demanding of possession.
He said on his YouTube channel: “I’d have brought Palmer on [against Serbia]. Because he’s got that arrogance and confidence to go get on the ball and say, ‘give it to me I’m going to start ticking us’. What he does at Chelsea is the same thing. The only problem is if Gareth brought on Palmer he wouldn’t have said that. He wouldn’t have said go and get loose and be why I brought you in.
“Ive watched him at Luton for Chelsea, he’s picking the ball up off Thiago Silva. No one can pick him up because the person meant to be marking him is playing left-back 70 yards away so can’t get near him. England needed a bit of that. Go on off the cuff and get us the ball back we’ve lost a bit of rhythm. Where is that talk? Eze, you go on there. This is what they do for their clubs. That’s why they’re here. Go let them do it.”
Chelsea star can still shine at Euro 2024
The Chelsea Chronicle is still confident there’s loads of time for Palmer to make his mark at his first major senior international tournament.
Chelsea fans know from just one year watching Palmer that he usually makes an impact whenever he’s on a football pitch.
It’s hard to see him breaking into the starting line-up ahead of Jude Bellingham or Bukayo Saka, but he needs to be ready to take his chance when it comes.