Cole Palmer's academy coaches wanted to release him at 16 for being too slight
From the age of 14, coaches at Manchester City's academy worried that Cole Palmer was too skinny to make it as a professional, and at 16 they wanted to let him go. The academy director, Jason Wilcox, overruled them. Within a few years Palmer had won a treble with City and scored in a European Championship final for England.
Palmer grew up in Wythenshawe, south Manchester, watching his father play Sunday league football for almost twenty years. He started at a local grassroots club and, despite supporting Manchester United, joined City's academy at under-eight level in 2010, eventually captaining the under-18s. His first-team debut came in a League Cup win at Burnley in September 2020, and his first European goal arrived off the bench against Club Brugge the following year.
At City he was mostly a substitute in a squad stacked with stars, but he still made 14 league appearances in the 2022–23 treble season and featured four times in the Champions League run. His final games were eye-catching: he scored in the Community Shield against Arsenal and then equalised in the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla, a match City won on penalties.
Chelsea signed him on 1 September 2023 for an initial £40 million on a seven-year contract, and his debut season was a revelation. He scored his first career hat-trick in a thrilling 4–3 comeback over Manchester United, two of the goals coming deep into stoppage time, and joined a tiny club: just two earlier Premier League players had scored or set up 30 goals in a season before turning 22. He ended the campaign with 27 goals and 15 assists in all competitions and was voted the Premier League's young player of the season.
International success came quickly too. Palmer won the European Under-21 Championship in 2023, made his senior England debut that year and scored the equaliser in the Euro 2024 final. In 2025 he was player of the match as Chelsea won both the Conference League and Club World Cup finals, collecting the Golden Ball at the latter.
Source: Cole Palmer
