Chelsea star opens up about his emotions during the most significant moment of his career to date

Chelsea star opens up about his emotions during the most significant moment of his career to date

Chelsea midfielder  his emotions during the most significant moment of his career to date

Cole Palmer was the exciting late call up to this England camp, so he was of course one of the first players to speak to the media at St George’s Park.

As well as speaking about his hopes for minutes with the Three Lions, Palmer was asked about his recent excellent run with Chelsea – including the penalty against his old club Manchester City which he slotted in extra time last Sunday.

According to Palmer, he had barely felt the nerves:

“When I saw the ref give [the penalty vs Man City] I thought, ‘It’s my time’. I spoke to Raz and was like, ‘I wanna take it’. When I put the ball down I just picked a spot and put it there. I wasn’t nervous, not really…”

Does anyone really doubt it? Everything we’ve seen from Palmer so far shows him to be an exceptionally confident young man, and while most of us would be crushed by the pressure of a penalty in that situation, we already have enormous faith in his mental strength after a string of high pressure penalties.

We’re not at all surprised he told Sterling he wanted the penalty – and we’re even less surprised that his senior colleague was happy to let him take it.