Alonso backs Palmer's England commitment as Tuchel's World Cup snub looms over Chelsea star

Xabi Alonso has moved to defend Cole Palmer’s commitment to England, insisting the Chelsea forward will be fully available for international duty once he is consistently fit — a direct response to Thomas Tuchel’s pointed criticism of the 24-year-old’s availability record.

Palmer withdrew from England’s Nations League squad for fixtures against Spain, Czechia and Croatia, with his absence attributed to load management. Tuchel publicly questioned the decision, saying Palmer “misses too many opportunities” to play international football — remarks that carried added weight given Palmer has featured just three times since the German took charge in January 2025 and was left out of Tuchel’s World Cup squad entirely.

“He’s committed [to England] but he has to be fully fit to play,” Alonso said ahead of Chelsea’s Premier League meeting with Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. “And when he’s fully fit he will enjoy his minutes. We need him in that moment: the club and the national team.”

Alonso confirmed Palmer has trained throughout the international window after struggling visibly during Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat at Brentford three weeks ago. “He has trained the last week, he has felt better. We didn’t want to rush because we’ve had enough time. The most important thing for Cole is to be fully fit, that he enjoys his game, he’s feeling OK.”

The Bournemouth fixture offers Chelsea a chance to arrest a run of form that has yielded just one point from their last nine available — a sharp contrast to the back-to-back league wins that opened Alonso’s reign.

Beyond Palmer, the former Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid manager expects captain Reece James, midfielder Moises Caicedo and striker Joao Pedro to all be available. James missed the international window with a hamstring problem, Pedro sat out the Brentford loss with a knee injury, and Caicedo has managed only 14 minutes of action all season due to a persistent calf complaint.

“Yes, he’s ready to go,” Alonso said of Caicedo. “We have used the time with Moi to be back fit. He’s been training good and he’s OK to go.”

Looking further ahead, Alonso indicated the returning players should be available across the next block of fixtures. “For the next block of games until the next international break, we have five Premier League games and hopefully they will be available — but for tomorrow they will be good.”