‘The new Gareth Bale’ – Is Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer now the Premier League’s best player? | OneFootball

Very few would back anyone other than Cole Palmer as Chelsea‘s most valuable player, but as far as Jamie Carragher is concerned, he can now be heralded as the Premier League‘s finest, which is a bold claim, but the numbers are on his side.

In his most recent outing, which saw the Blues emerge as 4-2 winners over Brighton, he became the first player in Premier League history to score four goals before halftime in a single match. This achievement leaves him with 28 strikes across 39 outings for the Stamford Bridge club since joining them from his boyhood team, Manchester City, last summer.

Since his debut for Chelsea in September last season (a home defeat to Nottingham Forest), Palmer has been involved in more Premier League goals than any other player (43 – 28 goals, 15 assists). Indeed, only England teammate and Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane (49) betters him across Europe’s five major leagues.

This piece of information cemented Carragher’s opinion on who is currently the best in the Premier League.

“Last season I was a little bit reticent to say he was the best player in the Premier League. I actually felt he was, but the fact Chelsea hadn’t had such a great season, I ended up going for Foden,” he said on Sky Sports Monday Night Football.

“But inside me I felt he was the the best player in the Premier League. if he carries on this again this season, I think he’s the best player in the Premier League. He’s not playing with the absolute elite at Manchester City.

“When I look at him now and I think of the last player I classed as the best player in the Premier League who didn’t play for one of the teams going for the title, it was probably Gareth Bale.

“For a couple of years at Tottenham he was the best player in the Premier League even though his team was just battling for the Champions League.”

It’s hard to see Chelsea finishing sixth last term without his goals. For one, he was involved in 52.4% of their goals (33/63 — 22 goals, 11 assists), and only City’s goalscoring machine Erling Haaland (8) produced more match-winners than Palmer (7). He’s averaging a goal or assist every 72.56 minutes, not only the best rate of any Chelsea player in Premier League history (min. 500 minutes) but the best of any Premier League player since September 2023.

Having become the first Chelsea player to register double figures for both goals and assists in his first Premier League season with the club, Palmer is four goals and six assists away from achieving the same feat in back-to-back campaigns.

Indeed, he’s on course to eclipse last season’s output. After his first six starts for Chelsea in 2023/24, Palmer registered four goals and two assists. Though it’s worth remembering that then head coach Mauricio Pochettino utilized him on the flanks, while his successor Enzo Maresca has deployed him as the Blues’ deep-lying forward or number 10 to devastating results.

Only four players have created more chances (17) than Palmer, while it’s the same number for total shots (18). In the former metric, he is at a significant distance ahead regarding his teammates, while his partner-in-crime, Nicolas Jackson, matches him stride-for-stride when it comes to peppering the opposition’s goal.

Maresca will dismiss the notion of Chelsea being a one-man team, but again, Palmer’s importance cannot be denied, with him responsible for 66.7% of their goals (10/15) so far. Furthermore, only Erling Haaland (10) stands ahead of Palmer (six) in the Golden Boot race, with them being the only Premier League talents to have reached double figures when it comes to goal involvement (both 10), and Palmer is one behind Bukayo Saka on the Playmaker Award standings.

Without leading Chelsea to Premier League glory, the calls for Palmer as the division’s best wouldn’t be universal. There’s no question that his importance to Chelsea’s cause is far greater than most individuals at other clubs.

Carragher’s point when comparing his situation to Bale’s at Tottenham holds up. The Welshman, like Robin van Persie and Luis Suarez, was named PFA Player of the Year without having been part of a championship-winning team.

Even if Chelsea’s pursuit of glory falls short, as long as Palmer’s consistency remains and he can equal or better last season’s output, then following in those players’ footsteps is feasible, further cementing his newfound status.