England manager Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that Chelsea’s Cole Palmer will not feature for his country during the international break.
Palmer had been dealing with an illness before being left out of Chelsea’s final Premier League match prior to the break—a 1-0 loss to Arsenal—due to a muscle injury. Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca soon acknowledged that the 22-year-old was unlikely to join up with the England squad due to the issue.
Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White was called up to replace Palmer, and it was later confirmed that Palmer would stay with Chelsea for further treatment.
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“Cole will not be with us,” Tuchel told the media ahead of Friday’s World Cup qualifier against Albania. “He wasn’t on the pitch with Chelsea. We’ve waited a while for feedback, hoping we might be able to call him up, but since he’s not on the pitch and isn’t available, it makes no sense to bring him in now. We’ll stick with the group we have. Everyone is in training today, all 26 players, so we have the full selection.”
According to The Guardian, Palmer underwent a second scan to better understand the extent of his injury, with Chelsea wanting to ensure a clear diagnosis before formulating a recovery plan for the key midfielder.
There is optimism that Palmer has not suffered a serious injury, and Chelsea fans are hopeful of seeing their top scorer—who netted for England in the Euro 2024 final against Spain—return to action after the international break, with Chelsea set to face Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge on April 3.
Palmer has been experiencing a goal drought, which many attribute to the wider injury struggles at Chelsea. Striker Nicolas Jackson and winger Noni Madueke—second and third on the club’s scoring charts—have both missed significant time due to injuries but are expected to return after the international break.