Alonso backs Palmer after Tuchel drops Chelsea attacker from England squad again

Xabi Alonso has publicly backed Cole Palmer after Thomas Tuchel omitted the Chelsea attacker from England’s squad for the November Nations League fixtures, with the Germany head coach citing Palmer’s failure to “miss too many opportunities to impress.”

Tuchel announced his squad on Friday morning, retaining the majority of the group he selected in October rather than recalling Palmer, who has not featured for England since March. The 22-year-old withdrew from the October window and has also missed previous camps through injury, a pattern Tuchel flagged critically at the time.

Speaking to media ahead of Chelsea’s trip to Sunderland on Sunday, Alonso said he had not discussed the England situation directly with Palmer but left no doubt about his own assessment of the player. “We are very happy with Cole,” Alonso said. “I think he is enjoying his game, he is connecting very well with the other attackers. He is helping the team with developing and improving what we want to achieve — knowing that everything takes time — but I am very happy with his quality, his attitude and the impact he is having on the rest of the team.”

Chelsea had informed the England set-up that Palmer was fit and available for selection. He has started all nine of the club’s Premier League games this season and has registered five goals and three assists across 11 appearances in all competitions, also forming a productive attacking partnership with Morgan Rogers — who was included in Tuchel’s squad.

Tuchel explained that he had sufficient options in the number ten position for this round of fixtures, with Morgan Gibbs-White, Eberechi Eze, Jude Bellingham, and Rogers all selected. First call-ups were handed to Josh King and Jobe Bellingham.

When asked whether he had spoken to Palmer about his international ambitions or any regrets over pulling out of the previous camp, Alonso was characteristically direct about the boundaries of his role. “We haven’t spoken about that. We are focused on our things, on Chelsea things and how to do better and how to help him and how he can become more and more influential on the game. Those are our topics to talk. We speak about Chelsea. We have enough on our plate. My impact area is my control area and what we talk about.”

Alonso also dismissed suggestions that the omission could be a psychological test for Palmer, saying the attacker simply needed to “focus on his thing — and his thing is to play good football.”