Photo: Werner100359 / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Xabi Alonso has backed Cole Palmer to deliver his best football this season, describing the Chelsea forward as "world-class" ahead of the Premier League opener against Fulham on Monday.
Palmer, 24, completed a full pre-season under the new head coach at Cobham — his first uninterrupted summer in four years, having previously been occupied by international competitions.
"Cole is determined to enjoy his football," Alonso said. "He wants to be fit. He wants to feel healthy. He wants to have a good connection with the players around him. And 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."
With no international commitments this summer, Palmer has been able to work with Alonso's methods from the first day of pre-season, building rhythm and tactical understanding within the squad.
Injuries disrupted Palmer's momentum at various points last season, but Alonso said the experience has helped the attacker develop a stronger awareness of his body. When asked whether those problems were behind him, the Chelsea manager was direct.
"Yes. I think that sometimes you need to go through a difficult moment with an injury or whatever to learn from that," Alonso said. "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."
Palmer has also been reunited with close friend Morgan Rogers, who joined Chelsea from Aston Villa during the summer transfer window. Chelsea open their Premier League campaign away to Fulham on Monday night.