{"id":1167673,"date":"2026-08-25T01:43:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T01:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1167673\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T01:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T01:43:17","slug":"chelsea-news-125m-majestic-palmer-returns-as-neville-names-transfer-priority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1167673\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea news: \u00a3125m ‘majestic’ Palmer returns as Neville names transfer priority"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cole Palmer was labelled \u2018sensational\u2019 and \u2018majestic\u2019 after he returned to his brilliant best for Chelsea<\/a> against Fulham, though Gary Neville has sent Xabi Alonso crucial transfer advice.<\/p>\n

Palmer and new signing Morgan Rogers ran the show as Chelsea<\/strong><\/a> beat Fulham 3-2 at Craven Cottage to begin the Alonso era in entertaining fashion. Palmer had a disappointing 2025-26 season, which culminated in him missing out on a place in England\u2019s World Cup squad, but he was unstoppable at times against Fulham.<\/p>\n

Chelsea took the lead in the first minute when Maxence Lacroix won the header from a long Fulham pass, allowing Palmer to play Joao Pedro in with a great first-time touch.<\/p>\n

Pedro delightfully chipped over Bernd Leno to begin the campaign in style.<\/p>\n

However, Josh King equalised for Fulham as Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez failed to keep out his low drive when he really should have done better.<\/p>\n

Luckily for Alonso, his attacking firepower steered Chelsea to all three points. Rogers netted his first Blues goal after great work by Lacroix in the box.<\/p>\n

READ \u2013 Brilliant Palmer, bogus Bobby: Chelsea are Premier League\u2019s new entertainers under Alonso<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Shortly after the break, Palmer<\/strong><\/a> displayed incredible footwork in the Fulham penalty area a minute before sending the ball through Leno\u2019s legs and into the net from a tight angle.<\/p>\n

Gonzalo Garcia clawed one back for Fulham in the 54th minute after another error from Sanchez, but Chelsea saw out the win.<\/p>\n

Sky Sports<\/a> co-commentator Alan Smith called Palmer \u2018majestic\u2019 and \u2018absolutely sensational\u2019, while pundit Neville set the Englishman\u2019s value at \u00a3120-125m.<\/p>\n

\u201cCole Palmer, sensational. If you\u2019re talking about Palmer getting back to his best, he [Alonso] has a \u00a3120-125million player there,\u201d Neville claimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cRogers getting a goal\u2026 those two just being electric with Joao Pedro up front \u2013 the front three were brilliant tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if the performance was a warning for Chelsea\u2019s Premier League rivals, Carragher replied:\u00a0\u201cYes. On paper, that front three is sensational, but it looked it in the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Joao Pedro is fantastic. Rogers\u2019 first game, what a start.<\/p>\n

Goalkeeping issues will \u2018haunt\u2019 Chelsea<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think of him, Palmer and Pedro, that\u2019s as good as anything in the Premier League right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do think there\u2019s concerns defensively, they conceded a couple of goals, you look at the goalkeeper\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have to sort the goalkeeping issue out because it\u2019s going to come back to haunt them again this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neville urged Alonso and Chelsea to address the keeper problems by signing a new No 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve added an experienced player in centre-back, central midfield and centre-forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if Emi Martinez is available or not, but someone like that needs to come in at Chelsea because that [Sanchez staying] will undermine everything they do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe positives from Fulham came from the encouragement Sanchez gave them with the goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Chelsea make first move for Julian Alvarez as stunning Arsenal battle teed up<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cole Palmer was labelled \u2018sensational\u2019 and \u2018majestic\u2019 after he returned to his brilliant best for Chelsea against Fulham,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1167674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[885,1172,163,1676,12,101,23605,79,16,2970,15],"class_list":["post-1167673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-chelsea","tag-cole-palmer","tag-front-page","tag-gary-neville","tag-news","tag-premier-league","tag-robert-sanchez","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-uncategorized","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117153615806609203","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1167673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1167674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1167673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1167673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1167673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}