Chelsea fans may not be happy with this news. The club has decided to rest attacking midfielder Cole Palmer for the next two to three weeks to help him recover from a groin injury. Palmer suffered a groin injury last month before his games against Brentford and Bayern Munich, where the football player scored back-to-back goals.
Despite his tremendous display on the field, the 23-year-old was forced off the ground with injury during Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Manchester United. Based on his impressive performances during the 2024-2025 season with Chelsea and the England National Team, Palmer was ranked 8th in the Ballon d’Or nominations for the season.
This includes his contributions to Chelsea winning the Europa Conference League and the Club World Cup. It’s also worth noting that Palmer was the highest-ranked English player in the 2025 Ballon d’Or rankings. While Palmer won the Europa Conference League and Club World Cup with Chelsea, he did not participate in the Champions League during the 2024-2025 season which as per many sport experts served as a big reason for the youngster not being featured in the top 5
“The decision has been taken with the player’s overall fitness and physical recovery in mind,” manager Enzo Maresca told reporters on Friday.
What did Maresca say?
“Yes, we decided to protect Cole a little bit more, in terms of not letting his injury get worse,” Maresca told reporters ahead of Saturday’s Premier League home game against Brighton & Hove Albion.
“We decided to rest him for two, three weeks until the international break to see if with that rest he can recover 100% and to be fit after the international break.I don’t think he needs surgery but it is just to manage the pain in his groin. We have decided to be a little bit conservative with him,” the manager added.
Who else will be out?
“Defender Tosin Adarabioyo is also likely to be out until the international break, which starts October 6, due to a calf issue. Meanwhile Wesley Fofana would also not be starting for the club in light of the concussion suffered by the player during Tuesday’s 2-1 League Cup win at Lincoln City,” Maresca told the press.
Recent Club World Cup champions, Chelsea, who have collected eight points from their first five Premier League matches recently also had to say a temporary good-bye to Levi Colwill, Liam Delap and Dario Essugo due to injuries.
Following these developments, Chelsea stares down at a tough challenge as they club would have to keep on rotating players and would have to resort to trying different combinations in some important games up ahead. “We always try to rotate players. That has to be the main target this season because of the amount of games and injuries we have witnessed so far,” Maresca concluded.