Enzo Maresca has said Cole Palmer will miss another six weeks with a groin injury, raising doubts over whether the Chelsea forward will be able to regain his England place before the 2026 World Cup.
Palmer, who has been unavailable during the past two international breaks, has been struggling with his fitness since the start of the season and has not played since limping off against Manchester United last month. Chelsea have tried to manage the 23-year-old’s groin injury with rest and are confident it does not need surgery but Maresca has dashed hopes of his most influential player making a swift return.
“Unfortunately he needs to be out for another six weeks,” Chelsea’s head coach said as he prepared for his side’s trip to Nottingham Forest on Saturday. “We try to protect Cole as much as we can. The most important thing is when he comes back he is fully fit. The medical staff are not magicians. We hope six weeks are enough.”
That timeframe means that Thomas Tuchel will not be able to pick Palmer when England, who secured their spot at the next summer’s World Cup by beating Latvia this week, face Albania and Serbia next month. The danger for Palmer, who has made only three starts this season, is that he runs out of time to revive his international career before the World Cup. The former Manchester City player has missed five of the past seven England camps and has played once for Tuchel since the German was appointed as the head coach.
Although Tuchel spoke warmly about Palmer at his squad announcement this month the reality is that England are not short of options in attacking midfield. Morgan Rogers has been starting at No 10 and competition comes from Eberechi Eze and Morgan Gibbs-White. Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden were left out of this month’s squad even though they were fit.
Tuchel does not have many opportunities to assess his options before naming his 26-man squad for the tournament. He will hope Palmer is available when England play warmup friendlies in March, their final matches before the selection has to be made.
Chelsea must also press ahead without Palmer, whose absence could take in league games against Forest, Sunderland, Tottenham, Wolves, Burnley and Arsenal and Champions League games against Ajax, Qarabag and Barcelona. On a brighter note for them, Reece James and Andrey Santos have returned to fitness. Maresca said Benoît Badiashile would be out until December.
