Pundit claims 22-year-old Chelsea star is the “most gifted” he’s seen in years | OneFootball

Garth Crooks has heaped praise on Cole Palmer following his superb season saying he hasn’t seen “a player so gifted in years.”

Palmer has been a revelation in his first season at Stamford Bridge following his arrival on deadline day from Manchester City last summer.

He has surprised everyone with his level of performance which saw him score 22 goals and provide 11 assists in his first season of playing regular Premier League football.

Crooks believes Palmer is so gifted

The 22-year-old’s form has seen him become a full England international, and he is surely a shoe in for Gareth Southgate’s final squad for the Euros this summer.

The accolades have rolled in for Palmer who cleaned up at Chelsea’s end of season awards, and he was also named Premier League Young Player of the Season.

He became the first Chelsea player since Eden Hazard in 2018 to win a Premier League Player of the Month award, and the only Chelsea player to win both goal and player of the month awards in the same month.

Palmer has taken the Premier League by storm this season.

Palmer’s goal in the 5-0 win against West Ham saw him become just the third player aged 21 or under to register 30 goal contributions in a single Premier League season.

The England international ended the season with a league high 33 goal contributions, one more than Erling Haaland and Ollie Watkins.

Palmer has rightfully received plaudits from far and wide, and Crooks believes he’s not seen a player so gifted in years.

“I haven’t seen a player so gifted in years”, Crooks told BBC Sport.

“The game comes so effortlessly to Cole Palmer, he makes it look easy.

“The 22-year-old has just picked up the Premier League’s Young Player of the Season, to sit alongside his Chelsea Player of the Year awards, and quite rightly.

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“To score 25 goals and have 15 assists in your first full season says volumes about this extraordinary talent.

“What awaits this young man is anyone’s guess, but England must accommodate this kind of special talent in a way it has failed to do so in the past.”

It will be interesting to see how Palmer performs next season, given teams will be aware of his talents, but he seems destined to go to the very top, and there’s no reason why he can’t produce similar numbers again.