CHELSEA star Cole Palmer admits he found it “difficult” not getting many minutes for England throughout Euro 2024.
The 22-year-old enjoyed a fantastic debut season with Chelsea following his £42.5million move from Manchester City.
In 45 appearances for the Blues he scored 25 goals and provided 15 assists.
Palmer‘s impressive form saw him earn his first senior England call-up and he was subsequently named in Gareth Southgate‘s 26-man squad for Euro 2024.
However, he was left disappointed by the amount of minutes he played in Germany.
In an interview with Sky Sports ahead of Chelsea’s Premier League opener against Manchester City, he said: “It was difficult not playing.
“You’re going into a new group, you have lads who have been there a number of years.
“Obviously, being a new young player, all the lads did take me in to be fair, like they did with all the young players. So it was quite easy to settle in, but obviously not playing and thinking to yourself, ‘Why?’ and just questioning yourself.
“I didn’t question my ability because I knew what I had done during the season.
“But you’re just thinking like ‘Why?’, do you know what I mean? But I just thought that when I do get on I’m just going to try and make an impact and do something.”
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Cole Palmer at Euro 2024
Vs Serbia: On the bench
Vs Denmark: On the bench
Vs Slovenia: 19 minutes
Vs Slovakia: 54 minutes
Vs Switzerland: 42 minutes
Vs Netherlands: 10 minutes, 1 assist
Vs Spain: 20 minutes, 1 goal
Palmer was limited to just 145 minutes of football at Euro 2024 and did not start a match.
However, he made a huge impact coming off the bench in the semi-final against Netherlands and final against Spain.
The attacking midfielder set up Ollie Watkins‘ winning goal in the 90th minute against Oranje.
He also scored in the final, but the Three Lions narrowly missed out in the late stages.
Palmer signed a two-year contract extension with Chelsea earlier this week.
It keeps him at Stamford Bridge until 2033.