As he came up initially through the ranks at Manchester City and then the England youth set-up, it became clear that Cole Palmer had that x-factor that young players need if they are to graduate from promising youngsters to fully fledged world-class talents.
Palmer’s England journey began with the Under-15s side, with his first taste of tournament football coming at the European Under-17s Championship in 2019.
On the domestic front, Palmer shrugged off concerns about his physicality which had almost led to him being released around the age of 14, leaving Irishman Brian Barry-Murphy the task of getting Palmer ready for senior football when he was handed the reins of the club’s Elite Development Squad in 2021.
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City academy chief on Palmer’s rise
Palmer has won 12 England caps and scored two goals (Image credit: Getty Images)
“Even before I’d arrived, I’d been told that the boy Palmer was very gifted,” Barry-Murphy, who is now managing League One outfit Cardiff, explains to FourFourTwo. “It was made clear that Cole was among the best young talents at the club and it was my job to assist his transition into senior football.
“In our first training sessions together, the thing that instantly set Cole apart from others was his movement. A lot of kids have incredible feet, they can shoot, they can pass – the technical aspects of the game. But the mental side, having that understanding of space, can be crucial. Cole would make very intelligent runs all the time. I was excited to be working with him.”
Palmer joined Chelsea in 2023 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Palmer was regularly training with Pep Guardiola’s first team by the age of 19, with his debut coming in a Carabao Cup triumph at Burnley, before a late cameo away at Marseille in the Champions League.
Palmer remained grounded. “He was happy to play in any position you asked him to, with no complaints whatsoever,” recalls Barry-Murphy. “If you put him somewhere new, he wanted to master it. We had so many brilliant players in the academy, but Cole had moments of skill that could blow you away. He could turn a game on its head with a goal from anywhere. I was constantly in touch with Pep about his performances.”
Come the end of the 2021-22 season, Palmer had made 11 appearances in Pep Guardiola’s first-team, scoring three goals and nabbing an assist along the way. “Cole really looked ready to kick on and play an even bigger role for Pep in the first team the following season,” Barry-Murphy adds. “We were all feeling very excited for him.”
But with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden all battling for minutes in Guardiola’s first-team, Palmer found regular and consistent minutes hard to come by.
Palmer had the likes of De Bruyne and Mahrez blocking his route to the first-team (Image credit: Getty Images)
“Mahrez was probably the main one because, like Cole, he was a left-footed winger who liked to cut in and create,” Barry-Murphy says. “The problem was, Riyad was one of the most dangerous and reliable players in the world.”
After playing a key role in England’s European Under-21 Championship victory in 2023 and scoring in the Community Shield defeat to Arsenal, Palmer would inform Guardiola that he wanted to leave.
“There comes a period where young players either get enough game time to satisfy their journey or don’t,” says Barry-Murphy. “It’s always sad to see a player of that talent go elsewhere but, at a big club like Manchester City, you move on.”
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