Thomas Tuchel will always remain a Chelsea legend for winning the Champions League with the Blues. Unfortunately, his run at Stamford Bridge was not as long as the fans would have hoped, as he was quickly shown the exit door after the new ownership came in, replacing the German tactician with Graham Potter. We all know how that turned out.
Tuchel is the manager of the England national team right now. Of course, quite a few Chelsea players will be hoping to be on the plane to the United States next summer.
One of them is Cole Palmer. Chelsea's best player by quite some distance, he is struggling with fitness issues at the moment. That has resulted in him not being part of Tuchel's England national team camps quite often. And could it end up having an impact on his place in the World Cup squad for the Three Lions next year?
Tuchel recently spoke about the nature of Palmer's injury. As reported by The Standard, the England boss said:
"That is concerning, of course. First of all, the most important thing is that he can play without pain, because the groin issue is a very dangerous one to become chronic."
Thomas Tuchel makes worrying claim about Chelsea's Cole Palmer
Palmer is out of action at the moment and won't be available against Liverpool, a big miss for Chelsea, as he is someone who has proven to rise to the occasion. But Tuchel does not believe that the Englishman will be available immediately after the international break either, when the Blues face Nottingham Forest. He said:
"It would surprise me this time if he was able to play."
The most important thing right now is that Palmer fully recovers from his groin issue. Chelsea cannot allow this to become something that flares up on a consistent basis and ends up disrupting the rest of his season, and possibly beyond that.
So, Palmer must be given as much time as he needs to completely recover from this, even if it ends up having a negative impact on the season. He is someone Chelsea should be planning their next decade around, not just this campaign.