October 16, (THEWILL) – Chelsea winger, Cole Palmer, has been sent home early from international duty with England’s Under-21 squad due to a minor injury concern.
The 21-year-old, who recently moved to Chelsea from Manchester City in a £45 million deadline-day transfer, captained the Young Lions in their European Championship qualifier against Serbia on Thursday. However, Palmer suffered a dead leg during the match and was substituted before the hour mark.
Rather than waiting to assess the injury ahead of England’s next qualifier against Ukraine on Monday, the coaching staff decided Palmer should return to Chelsea straight away. This follows the FA’s no-risk approach with young players and benefits Chelsea by allowing more recovery time before their English Premier League match against Arsenal on Saturday.
“We could have kept Cole here another day but we didn’t think it was right,” explained England U21 Manager, Lee Carsley. “I think he would have been fine for Ukraine but we don’t take chances with any of the players. If there’s any doubt they’ll miss a club game, we get them back as fast as we can.”
The early return allows Palmer, who scored his first Premier League goal for Chelsea against Burnley last week, greater time to regain fitness ahead of establishing himself as a starter under manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
