Enzo Maresca admitted he is “very proud and privileged” to work with Cole Palmer after the 22-year-old helped fire Chelsea to second place in the Premier League.
The England forward has been the outstanding player as Maresca’s young side have emerged as the nearest challengers to league leaders Liverpool as the season approaches the halfway stage.
With 11 goals in 15 games he is the club’s top scorer and has also made six assists, with the penalty he scored to put Chelsea 4-2 up in Sunday’s win against Tottenham – chipped impudently down the middle of the goal – a sure sign of a player rich in confidence.
“I feel very proud and privileged to work with Cole,” said Maresca. “I feel lucky to work with all of them, to be honest.
“Cole is a different one to the rest but here we have many good players where the head coach, in this case me, would feel happy and proud to work with them.”
Chelsea host Brentford on Sunday evening looking to keep up the pressure on the Arne Slot’s team and also stay ahead of the chasing pack in the race to return to the Champions League.
They currently lead third-placed Arsenal by two points with champions Manchester City another two points back in fourth, but in Palmer they hold the advantage of possessing possibly the Premier League’s in-form player.
Maresca, who worked with Palmer during his time in charge of City’s Elite Development Squad, said the cool displayed in embarrassing Spurs goalkeeper Fraser Forster from 12 yards on Sunday is in the player’s nature.
“Many top players have that way,” he said. “They look like they almost don’t care but it’s just their way and being in that way gives them more freedom, they can relax and you can see Cole is the same way. Cole was this way five years ago and he’s still the same.”
Asked whether he believed Palmer is the best player currently playing in England, Maresca said: “At this moment, he could be, but England are lucky because there are so many good players and Cole is one of them. There are so many good players in the Premier League.
“Absolutely he can be (world class) but as you said, he is only 22 and there are many things he can improve, including that at the moment, everyone is marking him man-to-man, but there are many things he can still improve.”
