Cole Palmer has admitted he's throwing his medals aside, at least his mother's.
The Chelsea and England midfielder is already a Champions League, FA Cup and Premier League winner with Manchester City and was close to winning the European Championship with the Three Lions last summer. It's quite a medal for a player who only recently turned 22 years old.
He already has more silverware than most Premier League players, despite his career being in its early stages. But instead of looking at his gongs and reminiscing about more successful times, Palmer keeps his medals out of sight and out of mind.
The midfielder instead hands them to his parents when he's done admiring them. It's the perfect summary of his winning mentality and how determined he is.
In an interview with GQ Magazine, Palmer was asked what he does with the medals and trophies he wins. He said: “I'll give them to my mother. I wanted to replenish supplies.
“Empty them so I can stock up again. The feeling you get when you win… you just want that again. You don't want to stop and never get that feeling again.”
Palmer will aim to add more medals to his and his mother's collection after a trophyless first season in west London. The Blues have started extremely strongly in the Europa Conference League, while they sit third in the Premier League – albeit already nine points behind leaders Liverpool.
Last season Palmer added a Carabao Cup runners-up medal to his collection and came close to reaching a second FA Cup final of his career, but the Blues lost to his former club in the semi-final at Wembley . However, the silver medal at the European Championship would have stung more than any other setback in his career.
Palmer started the final in Berlin on the bench, but was introduced for Kobbie Mainoo in the 70th minute. Three minutes later he pounced on a beautiful layback from Jude Bellingham and fired a precise finish into the bottom right corner from 25 yards out.
Looking back on that special moment, he added: “It all happened so quickly. Obviously I rewatched it all, the highlights and all… but it's one of those things that happened so quickly that you don't really remember it. ”
Last year, Palmer watched his former side win a fourth consecutive Premier League title and reach the aforementioned FA Cup final, where they would be defeated by Manchester United. His £42.5 million move to Chelsea the previous summer was a surprise at the time, given the gulf in the clubs' fortunes.
However, he insists he made the right decision. When asked why he left City, he said: “I just knew I wouldn't play as much as I wanted.
“Even when I went to England [camps] in the younger age groups you had players who played in the competition every week. And you look around and think: I can play in the league.'
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