Chelsea star Cole Palmer has been challenged to quickly channel the pain of his England World Cup snub into a positive.
Palmer was among the most high-profile omissions from Thomas Tuchel’s 26-man finals group named on Friday, along with the likes of Phil Foden, Harry Maguire and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The 24-year-old has made a big impact for England previously, named as their player of the year in 2024 after coming off the bench to score in the agonising European Championship final defeat by Spain in Berlin.
However, he has rarely been available for selection since Tuchel took charge of the Three Lions at the start of last year and also seen his previously stellar club form tail off dramatically during a tough, injury-disrupted campaign at Stamford Bridge.
Palmer not going to the World Cup still came as a huge surprise despite that notable drop-off in performance levels, with Chelsea’s interim head coach Calum McFarlane backing him to quickly recover from such a blow.
“I think in life and in football, you need to take every setback as a positive,” McFarlane said at Chelsea’s pre-match press conference before the final-day trip to Sunderland, which came just hours after confirmation of England’s World Cup squad.
“There's going to be lots of them - moments like this. And if you have the right mindset, you can turn it into a positive.”
McFarlane would not be drawn into commenting on Tuchel’s decision to leave out Palmer, saying: “I don't want to comment on that - it's not got anything to do with me.
“The England manager has made a decision so it's best to speak to him. We have full belief in Cole and we will be relying on him on Sunday.”
Palmer is not the only Chelsea player with World Cup aspirations who will now not be going to this summer’s tournament in North America, with the likes of Levi Colwill and Trevoh Chalobah also not included by England.
Joao Pedro and Andrey Santos, meanwhile, were both omitted from Carlo Ancelotti’s Brazil squad named on Monday, along with the injured Estevao, while Romeo Lavia did not get the call by Belgium.
On those Chelsea players who did not make the cut, McFarlane added: “In terms of Cole and the England announcement, that was made at 10am - we haven't had time to speak or get a feel for the group.
“Training was really good. I'm sure we'll have those conversations in the coming days and see how they are.”
