Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has acknowledged Cole Palmer as the best player in his squad but urged him to take more initiative during matches.
This comes after Palmer expressed frustration during the UEFA Europa Conference League final win over Real Betis, saying he was “sick of going backwards and sideways.”
The Blues conceded early in the match, but Palmer responded impressively by providing two assists as Chelsea cruised to a 4-1 victory in the final.
In their Club World Cup opener against LAFC, Palmer played seven passes into the final third and created one chance, though he didn’t register a goal or assist.
“This is the Cole that we expect. After the Conference League final, he said that he was quite bored receiving the ball and so he decided to do something different.
“The day after that interview I said to him, ‘But you can do that since the first minute, why are you waiting so long? Why don’t you do the same after one minute?’
“[Against LAFC], he was exactly doing what we asked him to do. We are happy when he does that because I said many times that Cole is our best player, he is a top player and hopefully he can continue to do the right things,” Maresca said.
