Chelsea forward Cole Palmer has revealed his admiration for football heroes Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney, inspired him to switch his shirt number.
Palmer, 23, had worn the number 20 shirt since his move from Manchester City in September 2023, with the number 10 jersey previously worn by Ukraine international Mykhailo Mudryk who had joined in January 2023.
Mudryk was omitted from the Blues’ Club World Cup squad with the 24-year old currently facing a potential four-year ban from football for a doping related offence, hence the reason for the availability of the number.
Palmer sported the jersey in Chelsea’s opening group game against LAFC, a 2-0 victory, and the Manchester City academy graduate has opened up on the reason behind his number swap.
“Messi, the big one, Rooney and players like that. It’s just an iconic number. I wore No. 10 all my life growing up and I just like the number”, Palmer said when asked of the reason for his number change.
The 23-year old also spoke about his relationship with manager Enzo Maresca, praising the Italian and downplaying any suggestions of a rift between them.
“We had a joke about it,” said Palmer. “My comments weren’t towards the manager or anything. It was just a personal thing. I felt like in the game, I was maybe being a bit safe. So that’s where the comment came from.
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I wanted to get the ball and try something different than previously. Obviously you can’t take the p— and do like whatever you want and stuff, but I feel like he [Maresca] still gives you a little bit of room to try and see what I can do”, he added.
Chelsea face Brazilian side Flamengo on Friday in their second group game, with a win enough to secure qualification for the next round. They round up the group stages with a game against Esperance Tunis next week.
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