‘If things get tough, it doesn’t shake me’: Chelsea’s hat-trick boy Cole Palmer shrugs aside injury problems

It’s white and cold! Cole Palmer covered his ears with his black-gloved hands after his customary ‘brrr’ celebration. Stepping up in Chelsea’s allwhite gear, he had planted the opening penalty against Wolves in the right corner last Saturday before breaking into the familiar pose, and an unfamiliar one.

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Outside noise? It has been a season interrupted with injuries, and it’s easy for doubts to creep in. There are rumours of ‘homesickness’; for the Manchester boy, who had sharpened his skills at City, and now linked to childhood love United, there was that unsettled feeling too.

“Just people talking rubbish,” Palmer told The Times Of India in an interaction facilitated by JioStar. “Honestly it doesn’t bother me.”

Letting his boots do the talking, he became the first player in Premier League history to register three 1st-half trebles.

His immediate Insta post after delivering the message at Molineux, was captioned “Just enjoy.” Perhaps, it was a note to himself, as he makes sense of a stop-start injury-hit campaign. His words are defiant, though. “No, it doesn’t shake me. Of course I want to perform well, but if things get tough, it doesn’t really affect my confidence too much.”

Cole processes praise and criticism in much the same way: “The same people who talk bad about you one minute will call you the best thing after you score. It doesn’t bother me.”

That emotional equilibrium has been there for a while. Still only 23, he seems like an old soul amidst the uncertainty of constant shuffle at the heart of Stamford Bridge. He traces that calmness back home. “I think it comes from my dad,” he said. “From a young age, he taught me not to get too high or too low, no matter what.”

Despite stepping up to the big league from the City production line, he got his one-way ticket to West London in the autumn of 2023. “I always knew I had the ability. I just needed a platform to show it,” the boy from Wythenshawe chose Chelsea to further his pro-levels of football education.

The no-fuss No. 10 has so far collected 51 goals at his present club. There are World Cup ambitions too. But for now, the England international with a grandfather from St Kitts, is dealing with the vagaries of a sporting career.

As Liam Rosenior’s Chelsea, in fifth place, host Leeds United in the EPL tonight, Cole finds himself in the starting XI in less than half the games this season, scoring 8 goals in 17 games. “This is something new to me,” Palmer shared with his club website. “I’ve never been injured before. I’ve not played a game this season fully fit. I’ve been overthinking it too.”

It’s about managing fitness and expectations. Scoring hat-tricks will certainly amp up the noise, though. Cole Palmer is “just a normal guy like everyone else,” he tells you. But then, he can’t lead a normal life.

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