Chelsea have made custom-made football boots for Cole Palmer to help him recover from a freak injury sustained earlier this week. Palmer has been sidelined since September 20 with a groin injury and was due to resume training with the Blues at Cobham on Thursday after recovering. Manager Enzo Maresca had previously expressed hope that the England international would be back for next week’s back-to-back games against Barcelona and Arsenal, but the Chelsea forward suffered a bizarre injury at home.
The former Manchester City youth player accidentally hit the little toe of his left foot on a door, sustaining a broken bone. “For sure he won’t be available tomorrow, for Barcelona and for Arsenal,” Maresca announced at a press conference on Friday morning. Unfortunately, he had an accident at home two days ago and hit his toe. ”
The Blues head coach added: “He was very close (to a return). He came back to us with almost a groin (injury), which is very good news. Then again he had this little problem, but I hope it’s not a major one.”
However, Chelsea are understood to have commissioned boots specifically adapted to Palmer’s feet in a bid to speed up his recovery from his latest setbacks.
The Blues are optimistic that the bespoke boots will allow Palmer to return to the training pitch next week and work with his team-mates in preparation for a demanding fixture schedule.
It is standard practice to make modifications to the inside of a protective boot in the event of a pinky injury, and Chelsea will be hoping that will help Palmer.
Chelsea have been without Palmer for more than two months. During this period, the Blues played 11 games in all competitions, winning eight, drawing two and losing just one.
Maresca is happy with how his players have adapted without his talisman, but the Italian would like to have Palmer as an option again.
“I think my teammates are better players because of Cole playing,” Maresca said. “When Cole is on the field, you feel a lot better and we all want Cole to be on the field. At the same time, when Cole is not on the field, we have to find solutions.”
“The team is performing well and doing very well. And I think it’s nice for any manager to miss players, but in the end the team still plays the way we want it to play. That’s good, but again, we’re better at Cole.”
