“He has got to play” – Richards names Chelsea ace who has already given Tuchel selection headache | OneFootball

Micah Richards believes Cole Palmer has to be playing for England and thinks the attacker has given new boss Thomas Tuchel a headache.

Palmer only made his England debut last November against Malta at Wembley, but such has been his rise in the game, he’s already being spoken about as central to the Three Lions moving forward.

The 22-year-old has 11 caps and has scored two goals for the national side, including the equaliser against Spain in the Euro 2024 final, and he looks set for a long and successful England career.

Richards believes Palmer has given Tuchel a selection headache

The general consensus was Palmer should have featured more regularly at Euro 2024 given the incredible season he had for the Blues, but he didn’t start a single game at the tournament.

Tuchel didn’t get to work with Palmer at Chelsea and will no doubt be looking forward to working with the former Manchester City man.

Palmer pulled out of the squad for the recent Nations League games against Greece and the Republic of Ireland, but is likely to be an important part of Tuchel’s squad in the build up to the 2026 World Cup and beyond.

Given the attacking options England have it’s really difficult to fit all the attacking quality in, and there’s no doubt some players will be disappointed.

Palmer is one of a number of talented England attackers.

Richards believes Palmer has to be playing and feels the former Chelsea boss has got a number of issues he needs to sort out.

“He has some real big issues to sort in terms of personnel,” he told The Rest Is Football.

“If you look at what Cole Palmer is doing week in, week out for Chelsea, he has got to play. Jude Bellingham has to play. Harry Kane we would all say he probably needs to play.

“But then you have Watkins itching, Saka. It’s difficult. What we didn’t give Southgate enough credit for at the time was having all these wonderful players and trying to fit them in because whoever he played someone is going to moan, why are they not playing?

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“It’s about getting that balance right and he has to go with the best balance for the team rather than just trying to get individual brilliance in.”

Palmer returned to Chelsea training this week and will likely find himself in the starting line-up as Chelsea head to Leicester on Saturday looking for three points.