Chelsea, once arguably the best in the world, faced their demise in 2022 as the previous owner, Roman Abramovich, was forced to let go of the club.
For nineteen years, he had put his all into the club, spending more than £2 billion on player signings and £90 million on hiring and firing managers since 2003. Abramovich, who gained a lot of his wealth through taking over oil assets and Russia’s largest television network after Berezovsky fell out of favour with the new Putin regime, was sanctioned after the brutal invasion of Ukraine. This means, his assets were frozen and, therefore, so was Chelsea. This is what led to them being unwillingly sold to a US-based consortium, Clearlake, headed by Todd Boehly and as part of the deal, a great amount of money was donated to war victims by Abramovich.
Since then it is no secret that Chelsea have struggled. They have gone from finishing third in the Premier League 2021/22 season all the way to twelfth in the 2022/23, as well as only getting to the third round of the FA cup and EFL cup despite being runners up in both just the season before. It is clear the club was lost. Not only did they lose Abramovich and the funding but also Head coach Thomas Tuchel, who left in September, with Chelsea then having three more head coaches throughout the season.
It was as if no one could fix the club, or could they?
The signing of then 21-year-old Cole Palmer from Man City in the summer of 2023 can be seen as one of the turning points for the club. Palmer had consistently stunned his fellow teammates but was never given consistent playing time under Pep Guardiola at Man City. Chelsea, however, knew what this young player was capable of. In his forty Premier League appearances for Chelsea so far, Palmer has scored twenty-eight goals (including three hat-tricks) and sixteen assists. This shows a clear trust in his potential as a player compared to his previous place at Man City with only nineteen appearances and a single assist in the Premier League.
Alongside Palmer, however, there are other young players at Chelsea which are hard not to mention. Noni Madueke, Jadon Sancho, Enzo Fernández and Nicholas Jackson, just to name a few, are all players 24 years old and under who are all enablers of the game, both scoring themselves and helping Palmer reach his absolute potential.
Since Palmer signed for Chelsea, after being bought for only £40 million, there has been a clear improvement in the club. In the recent on-going Premier League, the Blues are currently in sixth with three wins and a draw in their last five games, landing them with fourteen points, close behind Brighton, Villa and Arsenal.
There is no doubt that Palmer is the main factor in these wins, whether it is his brilliant gameplay and assists, or scoring four goals in just the first-half of their game against Brighton and Hove Albion, he is always impacting the result.
Palmer has since played for England in the recent Euros, both assisting the crucial, last-minute goal from Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins which sent England to the final as well as scoring in said final which certainly helped morale despite the loss which followed. Palmer has also since received the PFA Young Player of The Year award following his breakout season for Chelsea, ultimately recognising his great achievements and influence at the rising club.
Overall, the future for Chelsea and young superstar, Cole Palmer seems to be very bright.