Cole Palmer Set to Shine Again for Chelsea Under Xabi Alonso

Xabi Alonso insists Cole Palmer has put his injury misery behind him and is ready to rediscover the joy — and the edge — that once made him Chelsea’s brightest attacking spark.

Palmer endured a disjointed campaign last season, restricted to 26 Premier League appearances and 10 goals, a clear step down from the explosive impact of his first two years at Stamford Bridge. The numbers told only part of the story. At times he moved like a player still trapped in his own body, his mobility compromised after a groin injury that wiped out most of the first three months of the season.

The rhythm went. So did the creativity. His influence shrank just as Chelsea themselves lost their way, stumbling to a 10th-place finish.

Left out of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the World Cup, Palmer suddenly had something he hadn’t enjoyed since 2022: a full summer off. No tournament, no frantic turnaround, just time to heal and reset.

Alonso believes that break has changed everything.

“Cole is determined to enjoy his football,” the Chelsea manager said. “He wants to be fit. He wants to feel healthy. He wants to have a good connection with the players around him.

“I've said that if we have this Cole and we are able to reach him and he feels that flow in the game and that he connects well with the players, I'm sure that his level is top class, world class I would say, and that he will have a great season.”

Those words carry weight because of where Palmer has come from. His problems started brutally early last season, when he was pulled from the starting XI shortly before kick-off in Chelsea’s 5-1 win at West Ham in August. From there, his campaign never truly settled.

He featured just twice more in the league before December. Even when he did return to regular action and missed only two league games from that point on, the old sharpness never quite returned. Tuchel admitted publicly in March that Palmer still could not fully extend his groin, a stark detail that underlined how compromised the forward had been.

Alonso, though, is convinced that chapter is closed.

Asked before Monday’s Premier League opener away to Fulham at Craven Cottage whether Palmer’s injury troubles were now behind him, he did not hesitate.

“Yes,” he replied. “I think that sometimes you need to go through a difficult moment with an injury or whatever to learn from that.

“I think that Cole has gone through a difficult period with the injury, and now he's working really hard to have the prevention not to have to feel those symptoms.

“Since the first day, he's been working really hard to avoid that.”

This is not just about medical sign-offs and fitness reports. For Alonso, it’s about unlocking the version of Palmer who plays with a grin, drifts between the lines, and dictates games. Chelsea’s attack has been built with that player in mind.

He will not be alone in carrying the weight of expectation. Chelsea are ready to unleash several of their summer signings in the west London derby, with Maxence Lacroix, Morgan Rogers and Marco Palestra all in line for debuts. New faces, new ideas — and, if Alonso is right, an old star restored.

If Palmer really is free of pain and back in full flow, Monday night could be the first glimpse of the player Alonso keeps calling “world class.”