Cole Palmer’s ‘load management’ absence sounds like BS to suit only Chelsea | OneFootball

Of all the international windows, this might be the very worst.

Nobody likes the September break, coming when it does just as the Premier League is finding its rhythm. Extending it from two weeks to three only prolongs the misery.

It isn’t so bad in the odd years when there’s a World Cup or Euros around the corner, but we’re never further from a major tournament than where we are now.

And that is not lost on some Premier League clubs.

Thomas Tuchel’s first post-World Cup squad for four Nations League games against Spain, Czechia and Croatia has already had five withdrawals. That number will almost certainly increase.

Manchester United are said to have pulled out Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford. Michael Carrick suggested Rashford was still managing a hip issue but the United boss said Mainoo’s substitution in the later stages of the ‘pathetic’ draw with Fulham was due to tactical reasons.

If Mainoo had decided he just didn’t fancy another few weeks of loitering around the England squad – there’s nothing to suggest that is the case – it would be understandable, if not acceptable.

Declan Rice and Tino Livramento have followed, with the former suffering from a neural hamstring issue and the Newcastle full-back missing the weekend’s clash with Hull City after yet another fitness setback.

But Cole Palmer’s withdrawal is harder to reason. Apparently the Chelsea star won’t join up because of ‘load management’.

It is not a good look, is it?

Chelsea could not be blamed for being somewhat cautious with Palmer; he never seemed to fully recover from a groin injury last season and Tuchel spoke during the March break of the playmaker still having a niggle, despite having started 16 of the previous 17 Premier League matches.

No doubt Palmer’s problem contributed to a quite catastrophic loss of form that led to his World Cup omission.

But that disappointment left the 24-year-old free to recover more fully through the summer during a six-and-a-half-week break.

Prior to the start of the season, Xabi Alonso was asked if Palmer was over his groin injury.

“Yes. 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.”

Palmer toed the same line. “Physically I feel good, probably the best I’ve felt in ages,” he said coming into the campaign. “But I think I can [be fitter] with games and more minutes.”

Palmer’s form is better proof of his fitness than having played in five and a half of Chelsea’s six games so far this season, his performances earning an inevitable recall. You would expect Palmer to have received that recall with more enthusiasm and determination than most.

Certainly enough to stand up to Chelsea, if indeed it is Chelsea who are putting the brakes on his international ambitions.

The ‘load management’ reasoning is nonsensical, but if Chelsea are happy to stand by that claim, it could have been communicated to England prior to Tuchel picking his party and certainly before Morgan Gibbs-White jetted off to Dubai.

Tuchel must be bored of calling the Nottingham Forest captain to U-turn on his initial selection; credit is due to Gibbs-White for answering another belated call that really he should have received last week.

Gibbs-White’s desire to play for his country, or even turn up, appears to put Palmer to shame. Which doesn’t seem a fair representation of the Chelsea man judging from his previous words and actions.

Everton could have taken a similar approach with Jarrad Branthwaite; the defender missed many more games than Palmer term due to a hamstring injury and he spent much of his summer in Munich working to overcome the problem.  Branthwaite too has started every Premier League game this season and is arguably more irreplaceable to Everton than Palmer is to Chelsea.

This reeks of his club protecting their asset to the player’s cost. And to the cost of the public, because Palmer is a unique talent who belongs on the international stage.

The length of this window must have allowed for a compromise. England have all the means necessary for Palmer to ‘manage his load’ with them, even if only for a portion of the four games.

Jurgen Klopp’s idea to split this window between two different Germany squads feels extreme, but it highlights the possibilities the extended international break offers.

There have been many, many agreements in the past between clubs and England around the minutes and matches their players are expected to play. Chelsea and England could have tailored Palmer’s involvement to suit all parties rather than this blanket withdrawal which serves only the Blues.