Chelsea's Cole Palmer has enjoyed a brilliant start to the 2024/25 season
Chelsea star Cole Palmer(Image credit: Getty Images)
There are three certainties in life; death, taxes and the world's best players being linked with a move to Real Madrid.
And we're still awaiting the first reports of confirmed interest from the Bernabeu in Chelsea's red-hot midfielder Cole Palmer, one pundit has predicted how the 22-year-old's next few years will go, with the European Champions front and centre.
Palmer laid down an early marker for the best individual Premier League performance of the season at the weekend, when his four first-half goals inspired Chelsea to victory over Brighton.
Cole Palmer tipped to leave Chelsea for huge Real Madrid move
Bellingham made the transition from English football to Spanish (via German) (Image credit: Getty Images)
Palmer's four-goal haul against the Seagulls took his tally to six goals in his six Premier League appearances so far this season, while he has also provided four assists for a Chelsea side that have put in some promising attacking performances after another summer of upheaval in the transfer market.
Palmer has been front and centre of everything good that the Blues are doing at the moment and his latest display has had pundits queuing up to praise him
Cole Palmer celebrates his goal for England against Spain in the Euro 2024 final (Image credit: Getty Images)
This number has included former Soccer AM presenter Andy Goldstein who was falling over himself to praise the England star on TalkSPORT.
“Cole Palmer will end up at Real Madrid, he will be one of England’s greatest ever players and he will win the Ballon d’Or," he said. "I’m not joking, he will win the Ballon d’Or in the next three years – mark my words, by the time he’s 25.”
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After putting on a show like he did at the weekend following what has been a brilliant 2024 for the former Manchester City man, Palmer was always going to get tongues wagging and it's easy to see why Goldstein was dishing out the superlatives.
Palmer has been nominated for the 2024 Ballon d'Or, but is an outsider to land the prize, with Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior the bookmakers' favourite ahead of Manchester City's injured midfielder Rodri.
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But does Palmer's future lie in Madrid? In FourFourTwo's view, the mammoth nine-year contract that Palmer signed this summer means he is under contract until 2033, so Chelsea will not be forced into selling their crown jewel, who is valued at €90 million by Transfermarkt.
Never say never though, especially when it comes to a club that is as dysfunctional as Chelsea are in the transfer market. At 22, Palmer still has plenty of room to improve as a player and that will only mean that the game's biggest clubs will want him.
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For more than a decade Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor, with stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others. He is the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team.
