Why Palmer did not play for England during international break

Cole Palmer’s chances of playing in Euro 2024 got a good boost recently. Gareth Southgate, the manager of the England football team, says that even though Palmer didn’t play against Brazil or Belgium, he’s still in the running for a spot on the final squad.

Palmer has been doing really well lately. He played his first game for England in November and got called up again for the recent matches at Wembley. Unfortunately, he had a small injury and couldn’t play against Brazil. Then, in the Belgium game, he didn’t get to play at all.

Gareth Southgate has lots of good players to choose from for the attacking positions. Jarrod Bowen and Anthony Gordon played really well in the recent matches, adding to the competition for places.

Even though Palmer missed out on playing against Belgium because of limited training, Southgate still thinks highly of him. Palmer has been in good form this season, scoring 11 goals and making 8 assists in the Premier League.

Southgate said, “There’s a lot of competition for places in the team. It’s a bit of a shame that Cole Palmer couldn’t play much in training before the Belgium game. But we’re not ruling him out yet.”

England has many talented wingers. Even established players like Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish might miss out on playing in the Euros this summer. Rashford only played for 15 minutes against Brazil and didn’t play at all against Belgium. Grealish didn’t get called up for the recent matches because he was recovering from an injury at Manchester City.

But Southgate hasn’t forgotten about them. He said, “Grealish is still in the picture. I talked to him before naming the squad. He was getting back into training, but I didn’t think he was ready for these games. Gordon and Bowen are also putting pressure on them.