Cole Palmer has been nursing a groin injury for much of the season, but injury analyst Ben Dinary has provided an update on the Chelsea and England midfielder’s situation.
Injury specialist Ben Dinery provided an update on Cole Palmer, who is currently recovering from a groin injury. The Chelsea midfielder was rushed back from treatment in September, only to have the problem worsen a week later.
Palmer initially suffered a groin injury during the warm-up for Chelsea’s game against West Ham at the London Stadium. The 23-year-old was left out of the starting XI as a precautionary measure and was replaced by Estebao Willian.
He was also absent from the Blues’ win in the Premier League and against Benfica in the UEFA Champions League. Palmer appeared to bounce back when he made a strong impression in a brief appearance off the bench at G-Tech Community Stadium.
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However, the England international was forced to leave midway through the first half of Chelsea’s game at Old Trafford a week later. Since then, Palmer has been sidelined, missing a further seven games in all competitions.
In an interview with Football London via Escapist Magazine, Deanery shed light on the British plight. Injury experts suggested that Palmer’s rapid rise to fame may have taken its toll.
“Essentially we’re talking about a player who came over from Manchester City and had a breakout year in the England Under-21s. He had a great season at Chelsea and then left with the full England squad,” Dinary said.
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“He is a player who has hardly rested for more than two years. With all that fatigue, we forget that he is still a young player, perhaps going from under-23 football to under-21 football, playing that football for City and suddenly becoming a key player for Chelsea.”
“That’s a heavy thing to bear,” the injury analyst added. “The reason his management is on the conservative side at the moment just suggests it’s load management.
“It’s just a matter of lightening the load. Given the nature of football, the way it changes, it’s true that there is a high rate of groin and pelvic problems and injuries. Sometimes by lightening the load, those problems can be significantly improved.”
“That’s why we’ve seen Cole Palmer’s schedule fluctuate. We expected him to come back a little sooner, but it’s going to take another month. That’s one of the things that will be evaluated day-to-day.”
“We seem to have decided that if the injury is of a fixed duration, how long will it last? Now, what they will do is look at an activity-based program to hopefully get the player back into first-team football.”
“There’s probably a five- or six-step process, and you have to complete each step of the process without any setbacks, reactions, or reinjury.”
Regarding Palmer’s return, Dinery explained: “Especially when you’re talking about load issues, sometimes you don’t know until the very end. You might be okay for three, four, five days, but then you increase the intensity and increase the load and all of a sudden it starts to feel a little bit more intense.
“Ultimately, nothing has been decided in terms of time frame. I think we are thinking about after the international break. We have a busy period around Christmas and around that, but it’s one of those times where we can see how Cole Palmer manages in terms of playing time.”
“Again, that factor could be Chelsea’s form and we probably thought we were OK until last weekend when we lost at home to Sunderland.
“I think they have the idea and understanding that once Cole Palmer comes back, they want to make sure he’s healthy and available for not just two, three, four, five games, but the festive period through January and the rest of the season beyond that.”
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