Cole Palmer is an “absolute genius” who could help England win Euro 2024, according to former international Joe Cole.

Palmer has lit up the Premier League following his move to Chelsea from Manchester City, scoring 20 goals and notching nine assists in a brilliant breakout season.

The 21-year-old is a contender to win the Golden Boot ahead of former City team-mate Erling Haaland and looks set to be on the plane as Gareth Southgate’s men try to earn Euros glory this summer.

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Palmer, who has won two caps, was not involved in last month’s friendlies against Brazil and Belgium due to injury, but Cole believes he can be the difference-maker in Germany.

“He has been sensational and there is an argument he could be Player of the Year – that’s how good he has been,” Cole told the PA news agency.

“You have to bring a player of that quality.

“The technicians are what are going to win us the tournament. They all have to go and they all have to have time on the pitch.

“Palmer is a top player. I have watched him play and he is a top, top player.

“Cole Palmer is an absolute genius.”

Cole is also impressed by Palmer’s mentality, highlighted by his refusal to hand a penalty over to squabbling team-mates Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke, despite already scoring a hat-trick in the 6-0 win over Everton.

Palmer kept his cool and scored a fourth to take his tally to 20 for the season.

Cole added: “It’s fantastic he has got that mindset – he is not a wallflower.

“He is a proper player, he will go anywhere on the pitch and take the ball, he backs himself.

“Sometimes people can look at that with disdain, saying it’s arrogance. It’s not arrogance. We need it and we need more players like that.”

Palmer is a special inclusion in Topps’ UEFA EURO 2024 sticker collection, where he is featured in the ‘Artist of the Game’ category.

Cole said of collecting stickers: “It is a rite of passage. Everyone who loves football gets to that stage where you are collecting.

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“It’s such a great thing to do, the trading, the anticipation of who you are going to get, who you need.

“It is just a great social thing for kids to do. It becomes nostalgic, it’s something that our parents did and our kids do, it’s part of our culture.”

:: Joe Cole was speaking to mark the launch of Topps’ official UEFA EURO 2024™ sticker collection, which is available to buy now.

Joe Cole feels like “the time is now” as England head into this summer’s European Championship.

Gareth Southgate is preparing to take charge of his fourth and potentially last major tournament, having reached the World Cup semi-finals and quarter-finals as well as a continental final.

England’s agonising penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 showpiece remains raw but has only increased the squad’s desire to go one better in Germany.

Cole believes those shared experiences are indicating this can be “a real positive summer”, with the former international excited by what Southgate’s side can achieve.

“Listen, they were penalty kicks away from winning a tournament,” the former England international told the PA news agency. “There’s been semi-finals, quarter-finals – the experience is there now.

“They have got young players in the squad, but they’re so experienced and so knowledgeable, as a team and as a group. You know, I think the time is now.

“The only difference going into this tournament is there’s a little bit more expectation on them and it’s how do they cope with that, but I think they’ve got the right manager for that.

“I think Gareth will manage the anxieties of the squad – of the team – and just keep them focused on the task in hand.

“I think Gareth is in the right place. Very, very good character in that situation. I think it actually sort of would benefit to have someone of his character there.”

Cole is well placed to analyse England’s chances having represented his country 56 times and worked as a pundit throughout the build-up to Euro 2024.

The retired creative midfielder is also a former international team-mate of Southgate, who he believes deserves more appreciation for the job he has done in charge of the men’s team.

“Factually, Gareth Southgate is the most successful England manager since Alf Ramsey,” Cole said.

“If you’re going to have a discussion with someone and anyone’s picking holes out of it, that is the facts.

“He’s taken the team deeper in tournaments than anyone and he’s just underappreciated. Underappreciated the job he’s done.”

Cole – who has signed up to play in Soccer Aid for UNICEF on June 9 – was in the same 2002 World Cup squad as Southgate and part of the last England side to play in a major tournament in Germany.

Sven-Goran Eriksson’s much-hyped ‘Golden Generation’ bowed out in the quarter-final stage of the 2006 World Cup and Cole believes things are better for the national team this time around.

“It’s a different landscape,” Cole said. “We had different problems to deal with than this group of players.

“When you go into a tournament, you need moments to happen for you. Every tournament we played in, it was either a penalty shoot-out or it was a sending off or an injury.

“These big moments went against us, but ultimately I feel this group are better educated from a footballing perspective.

“I feel where we are in England – in terms of how we play football – is the right way now.

“I feel for many, many years, we weren’t playing in the right way tactically, so I think this group have been brought up under a different system. Underneath it all, I think ultimately they’re better equipped because of that.”

England continued their Euro 2024 preparations with Saturday’s late 1-0 loss to Brazil and even later Jude Bellingham goal in the 2-2 draw with Belgium three days later.

Southgate’s side have two further warm-up friendlies against Bosnia and Iceland in June, with the squad due to fly out to Germany the day after Cole pulls on an England shirt once again in Soccer Aid.

“It’s always nice to go back and play at Stamford Bridge,” he said of the June 9 clash against a World XI at former club Chelsea.

“It always surprises me how popular it is. The kids love it, people tune in, it’s a real family occasion.

“It’s great to be part of and it’s just one of them things that’s a win-win all round for everybody. We love doing it and most importantly it’s for a great cause.”

:: Soccer Aid for UNICEF 2024 takes place on June 9 at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge, with tickets available at www.socceraid.org.uk/tickets

Joe Cole has thrown his weight behind Mauricio Pochettino ahead of a critical week for Chelsea.

The Blues are languishing ninth in the Premier League and trail fourth-placed Aston Villa by 12 points, but turn their focus to the domestic cups this week.

Championship Middlesbrough visit Stamford Bridge on Tuesday holding a one-goal advantage in the Carabao Cup semi-final while Villa await on Friday in an FA Cup fourth-round tie, but Cole does not believe this week is make-or-break for Pochettino.

“Pochettino is doing a great job. I think the club are not there and everyone needs to get behind Mauricio and really get behind his team because it will take that,” Cole told the PA news agency at the launch of Green Football Weekend at Wembley.

“No, I don’t think it is (make-or-break). I really don’t. What I took from the club is an element of ‘we will go with this, they’re young players’. The people at the top obviously believe bringing in these younger players and having a manager work with them will bear fruit later on.

“I think it needs time. ‘Poch’ has held himself impeccably well since he got there and done a great job. He is doing the right thing, he is trying to take pressure off the players because this isn’t the squad of the last 20 to 25 years of Chelsea.

“This is a different squad that is growing. They can become that if they stick together, learn and develop but there has been pain and there will be short-term pain.

“Nobody at Chelsea is happy sitting eighth in the league, let alone 12th like it was a few weeks ago, but you have to stick with them and let them grow. Let them become players in a top team.

“By the end of the season there needs to be improvement in the performances and something you can hold onto. I don’t think there is any requirements for European football, I don’t think there is any requirements for trophies and we’ve had a reality check.

“This is where we are and we have to build up. Unfortunately in football that is step by step.

“It isn’t ‘we’re going to buy another five players’ and all of a sudden we can compete with Man City. We’ll need to go to the summer, get the next two or three signings right, build again, get a little bit better.

“Hopefully if you make more good decisions than bad decisions, you’ll get back up there.”

The pressure would increase if results were not to go Chelsea’s way this week and one of their great managers is back on the market after Jose Mourinho was sacked by Roma.

While Cole played down his old boss potentially replacing Pochettino, he did insist all of England’s top clubs would talk to Mourinho if a vacancy opened up.

“For me, he has been a success everywhere he has gone and is still a top manager,” Cole added.

“All top clubs in England, if any of them change manager in the next six months and he is out of a job, he will be talked about and it will be a real conversation because he can still manage anybody.”

:: Green Football Weekend is on 3-4 February, head to greenfootballweekend.com to find out more on the campaign and score green goals for your club.

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand declared "we haven't seen" a player like Jude Bellingham at his age after the Borussia Dortmund teenager helped guide his team to a 4-1 Champions League win at Sevilla.

Bellingham scored one and assisted one as Dortmund eased to victory in Spain on Wednesday, with other goals coming from Raphael Guerreiro, Karim Adeyemi and Julian Brandt, while Youssef En-Nesyri pulled one back for the hosts.

Bellingham, 19, who captained the Bundesliga side, became just the second teenager to score in the first three games of a Champions League campaign.

The only other player to achieve that feat is his former BVB team-mate Erling Haaland, who did so with Salzburg in the 2019-20 season.

Bellingham's tally of three Champions League goals this season is already a joint-high among English teenagers for a single campaign, along with Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, back in 2004-05.

"What he's doing in his position at his age, we haven't seen," Ferdinand said, working as a pundit for BT Sport.

"The best of our generation, [Frank] Lampard, [Steven] Gerrard, [Paul] Scholes, [Patrick] Vieira, Roy Keane, they weren't doing this.

"He's still got to go on and prove it over a long period of time, but they weren't doing what he is doing right now [at the same age].

"Influencing games at this level, captaining teams at this level, and mentally this kid's a beast."

Fellow pundit and former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole added: "Along with Erling Haaland, he's the best young player in the world, that's for sure.

"I watched him play for England over the two [Nations League] games [against Italy and Germany] and he was our best player.

"His dad I believe was a semi-pro footballer so he's obviously been guided right... When we grew up with Frank [Lampard] and his dad was a footballer obviously, a top footballer, and Frank had this maturity about him... Bellingham's got that as well, coupled with his undoubted God-given talent and his drive, he's unstoppable."

Bellingham has long been linked with a move back to England, having joined Dortmund from Birmingham City in 2020, with Liverpool, Manchester City, United and Chelsea all reportedly keeping an eye on developments, along with LaLiga giants Real Madrid.

"One thing that's for sure – whoever gets him – is [his] temperament," Ferdinand said.

"When you're making big transfers and big moves like that in the spotlight, temperament is a key element you need to get right. This kid has already proved that it isn't a question mark."