{"id":43803,"date":"2025-07-06T16:40:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T16:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/43803\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T16:40:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T16:40:12","slug":"cole-palmer-admits-to-difficult-times-at-chelsea-and-unsung-star-who-helped-him-through","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/43803\/","title":{"rendered":"Cole Palmer admits to &#8216;difficult times&#8217; at Chelsea and unsung star who helped him through"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It has been a difficult year for Cole Palmer at Chelsea and he is the first to admit that 2025 has not quite gone the way he was hoping at Stamford Bridge, but one team-mate has always supported him<\/p>\n<p>12:34, 06 Jul 2025Updated 13:18, 06 Jul 2025<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_GettyImages-2223617862.jpg\" alt=\"Cole Palmer #10 of Chelsea FC looks on during the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 quarter final match between SE Palmeiras and Chelsea FC at Lincoln Financial Field on July 04, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>The second half of last season was challenging for Cole Palmer(Image: 2025 Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Cole Palmer has admitted that he has been leaning on <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/all-about\/chelsea-fc\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Chelsea<\/a> team-mate<a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/all-about\/tosin-adarabioyo\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\" Tosin Adarabioyo,Link opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\"> Tosin Adarabioyo,<\/a> after a difficult year at Stamford Bridge. Palmer, 23, began the last campaign in explosive fashion, contributing 14 goals and six assists in 21 <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/all-about\/premier-league\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Premier League<\/a> games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">However, from January 14 until the end of the campaign, he only got three assists and one goal, which was a penalty i<a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/sport\/football\/match-reports\/chelsea-liverpool-premier-league-score-35169198\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"n the Blues&#039; 3-1 home victory over LiverpoolLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">n the Blues&#8217; 3-1 home victory over Liverpool<\/a>. Palmer finished the campaign with a brace of assists in <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/sport\/football\/match-reports\/chelsea-real-betis-goals-highlights-35302278\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Chelsea&#039;s Europa Conference League triumph over Real BetisLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Chelsea&#8217;s Europa Conference League triumph over Real Betis<\/a>, but the second half of the campaign <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/sport\/football\/news\/chelsea-enzo-maresca-cole-palmer-35080059\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"fell below his standardsLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">fell below his standards<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">He also started the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/all-about\/fifa-club-world-cup\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Club World CupLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Club World Cup<\/a> slowly, failing to make a goal contribution in the first two games, before <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/sport\/football\/match-reports\/chelsea-benfica-club-world-cup-35469673\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"providing an assist against BenficaLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">providing an assist against Benfica<\/a> and scoring a <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/sport\/football\/match-reports\/chelsea-club-world-cup-palmeiras-35505415\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"wonderful goal in the quarter-final win over PalmeirasLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">wonderful goal in the quarter-final win over Palmeiras<\/a>. After the latter, Palmer admitted he has often struggled with the pressure, on and off the field.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Guiding him through this process has been experienced Chelsea defender Adarabioyo who, as a former <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/all-about\/manchester-city-fc\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Manchester City<\/a> academy star himself, has known the midfielder since he was a promising teenager. When asked why he specifically looked for Adarabioyo while he was celebrating his strike against the Brazilians, Palmer said: &#8220;That&#8217;s my boy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;Obviously, I&#8217;ve had a difficult time these past whatever months on and off the pitch, but he&#8217;s always been there for me and he&#8217;s helped me a lot. So, yeah, I just thought I&#8217;d go over to him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Before their round of 16 clash against Benfica, the ex-Fulham central defender came to Palmer&#8217;s defence, backing his friend to come back to form. Referring to the many banners in the United States that have made Palmer one of the faces of the Club World Cup, Adarabioyo told reporters: &#8220;I&#8217;ve known Cole since he was a young boy so even me seeing him on those big banners makes me very, very proud.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;I think people do forget that he&#8217;s still 22, 23 years of age and he&#8217;s one of the faces of this tournament. Obviously his life has changed in the past two years.<\/p>\n<p>Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;I banter him some time and tell him he&#8217;s a little superstar. But yeah, he handles it very well. He knows his focus is brilliant on football. He loves playing football and that&#8217;s Cole Palmer for you.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;You say he&#8217;s receiving a lot of scrutiny. I don&#8217;t think Cole really looks at that and us as team-mates aren&#8217;t really looking at that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;He performs at a very high level every time he steps on the pitch. So our job is not just to help Cole Palmer but every single player on the pitch perform as well as they can.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_GettyImages-2220469053.jpg\" alt=\"Tosin Adarabioyo #4 and Cole Palmer #10 of Chelsea FC applauds the fans during the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 group D match between Chelsea FC and Los Angeles Football Club at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on June 16, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Cole Palmer and Tosin Adarabioyo know each other well(Image: 2025 FIFA)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Chelsea face Fluminese for a place in the Club World Cup final on Tuesday, July 8. They will be the third Brazilian side the Blues have faced in the USA, having lost 3-1 to Flamengo and beaten Palmeiras 2-1.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The Blues will be reunited with Fluminese central defender and Chelsea legend Thiago Silva, who won the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/all-about\/champions-league\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Champions League<\/a> with the west Londoners. The South Americans have been one of the surprise packages of the tournament, having drawn with <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/all-about\/borussia-dortmund\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Borussia Dortmund<\/a>, beaten Inter Milan and most recently knocked out Al-Hilal, who had seen off Manchester City.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \"><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/KLOUWbmSQd86jj7ZbbVOHa\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Join our new WhatsApp community <\/a>and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don&#8217;t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you&#8217;re curious, you can read our <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reachplc.com\/site-services\/privacy-policy\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Watch the Club World Cup free on DAZN<\/p>\n<p>This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/affiliates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Learn more<\/a><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_Untitledjpeg.jpg\" alt=\"Content Image\" fetchpriority=\"auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The FIFA Club World Cup will see 32 of the world&#8217;s best club teams including Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, PSG and Bayern Munich play across 63 games from June 14-July 13.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Fans can watch every match live and for free by signing up to DAZN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has been a difficult year for Cole Palmer at Chelsea and he is the first to admit&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":43804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[6075,3241,1924,220,221,62,34173,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-43803","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-chelsea-fc","9":"tag-cole-palmer","10":"tag-fifa-club-world-cup","11":"tag-premier-league","12":"tag-soccer","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tosin-adarabioyo","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114807283678232129","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}