Palmer hails Maresca and believes he’s doing a great job after a rousing victory against PSG in the Club World Cup.
‘Great feeling’: Palmer hails Maresca after Chelsea glory.
Following Chelsea’s outstanding performance in defeating Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 in the opening final of FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup, Cole Palmer stated that Enzo Maresca is creating something unique.
At MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, Palmer was in incredible form, scoring two beautiful goals and setting up João Pedro to make the score 3-0 at the interval. Maresca, whose young team will enter the upcoming season with enormous belief after being declared world champions, set up Chelsea, who were underdogs heading into their matchup with the European champions, masterfully.
“He is building something special, something important,” Palmer said of Chelsea’s head coach. “Everyone has talked a lot about us all season but I feel like we are going in the right direction.”
Since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital acquired the team three years ago, Chelsea has spent almost £1 billion on acquisitions. Although it has taken a while, there are increasing indications that their youth-driven hiring strategy is effective. Chelsea won the Conference League, advanced to the Champions League, and defeated PSG in a major final during Maresca’s first season as manager.
“It’s a great feeling,” Palmer said. “Even better because everyone doubted us before the game, we knew that. To put a fight on like we did, it’s good. The gaffer put a great gameplan out. He knew where the space was going to be. He tried to free me up as much as possible and I just had to repay him and score some goals.”
Palmer features alongside Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior on billboards in New York. “I’ve seen the billboards in Times Square and outside Madison Square Garden,” he said. “It’s a nice feeling to be alongside those type of players.”