Enzo Maresca is beaming with pride this season after reuniting with Cole Palmer at Chelsea and has put him on the pedestal as a perfect player to have in the squad.
Palmer, 22, already has 17 goal contributions - 11 goals and six assists - 15 Premier League appearances this season, continuing his form from last season which saw him contribute 22 goals and 11 assists in 34 appearances in his debut season.
It's been one of Chelsea's best signings, arguably their best under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital ownership, and Maresca is reaping the rewards of working with the England international since his summer appointment as head coach.
Maresca and Palmer, both formerly of Man City, are succeeding at Stamford Bridge and Palmer is earning the label of being the best in-form player in the league right now.
Palmer is influencing everyone with his on the field performances, as well as his cold celebration. Maresca has expressed his pride at working with the England international and feels he is 'different from the rest'.
"I feel very proud and privileged to work with Cole," Maresca said. "I feel quite lucky, to be honest, to work with all of them because, for sure, Cole is a different one from the rest. But we have many good players where a manager, in this case me, I feel happy and proud to work with them.
Cole Palmer
Cool. Calm. Cold. Palmer scoring a panenka against Spurs. / IMAGO / Martin Dalton
One of Palmer's qualities is not feeling the pressure. Everything the 22-year-old does is so calm and collective. Maresca puts that down to Palmer proving he is a top player. The Chelsea head coach added: "If you see many big players, many top players, they are in that way. They look almost like they don’t care about nothing.
"In the end it’s because they are in that way, but for sure they care. Being in that way gives them freedom or relaxation. You can see Cole in exactly the same way. I said he was exactly in this way three or four years ago, he’s still the same."
But what makes Palmer the perfect player to have in the squad? It's quite simple for Maresca. Palmer loves the game and that shows in his application to both training in matches.
Maresca continued: "You don’t need to waste energy to convince him that he has to behave in a certain way. He is exactly behaving in the way they need to behave, just focused on football and the important things. The most important thing is that he loves football.
"I said that every time we start a session. He is one of the first out to start to play with the ball. You can see in that moment the ones who really love football and the ones who just play football."
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