Cole Palmer Eyes Chelsea Trophy Wins Following PFA Young Player Award

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Cole Palmer was awarded the PFA's Young Player of the Year on Tuesday. However, he stressed that his primary goal is to help Chelsea secure trophies rather than focus on individual honours. Palmer, who netted 22 goals in 34 Premier League matches during his debut season at Stamford Bridge, outperformed Bukayo Saka and Kobbie Mainoo to win the accolade.

The 22-year-old became the third Chelsea player to receive this award, following in the footsteps of Scott Parker and Eden Hazard. Last month, Palmer extended his contract with Chelsea until 2023. He led the league in goal contributions last season with 33 and successfully converted all nine of his penalties for the Blues.

Despite not winning the PFA Player of the Year award, which went to his former teammate Phil Foden, Palmer expressed gratitude for being recognised by his peers. "It is really special [to win the award] and I just want to say thank you to all of the players for recognising me," Palmer said. "I have never really done anything like that before but it is a special award and it was a reminder to keep going no matter what."

Palmer played a crucial role in Gareth Southgate's England squad that reached the Euro 2024 final last month. He scored the equaliser against Spain in the final match. Returning to Cobham later than most of his Chelsea teammates, he played 45 minutes in their final pre-season game against Inter before starting in their 2-0 loss to Manchester City on the opening day of the new season.

Palmer revealed that he used an image of the Players' Player of the Year trophy as his phone wallpaper last season for motivation. "The (last) whole season was a great season for me personally and hopefully, we can kick on this season," Palmer told Sky Sports. "I want to win trophies with Chelsea, that is the main thing, and then the individual awards are nice."

Focus on Team Success

"It's on me to produce for Chelsea and that's what I plan to do," Palmer added. "[The picture] was on my phone as a reminder every day of something to work towards so to win this award is nice." His commitment underscores his dedication to team achievements over personal accolades.

Chelsea FC celebrated Palmer's achievement by sharing a tweet featuring two Chelsea stars from different eras.