Joe Cole picks out one player as his heir as “maverick” at Chelsea | OneFootball

Joe Cole has been raving about Cole Palmer again. The former Chelsea winger always tries to focus on the positives when it comes to his old club, and there’s been one of those standing head and shoulders above all others this season.

His quotes make it clear what he thinks of the youngster. As we’ve see in a number of TNT Sports games where JC is a pundit, he’s a huge fan of Palmer as a player, especially his style:

“He has a throwback maverick mentality,” the former winger said in quotes picked up by Tribal Football.

“He scored a hat-trick against Manchester United, but in his post-match interview, it was as if he was walking his dog in the park. It is not forced.

“He just has a coolness and calmness on the football pitch. It is unbelievable. His mentality elevates his performance beyond just his technique.

“He has a lovely left foot when striking the ball well, but his decision-making is spot on. He makes through balls all the time and makes the right pass, but, above all, it is his mentality. I think he is a winner as well Man City.”

A new Cole in town

In many ways Cole (Palmer) is an heir to Cole (Joe). They have different body shapes, but in terms of being an entertainer in the team, and their elegant graceful glide across the turf there are a lot of similarities.

Joe never managed to get his goalscoring levels to anything like Palmer has though; while Palmer would do well to develop the defensive side of his game through the years as Joe famously did under Jose Mourinho.

He’s spot on in his analysis of Palmer too – technique can be learned, what’s more impressive is the innate calm that the 21 year old has.