The Blues' FIFA Club World Cup exploits have set them up for future success, with their No.10 the main man in the BlueCo project
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"Everyone has talked a lot of sh*t about us all season," a carefree Cole Palmer so characteristically proclaimed after Chelsea were crowned champions of the world on Sunday. "But I feel like we're going in the right direction." The Blues didn't just beat Paris Saint-Germain, the consensus best team in the world, but absolutely smashed them in the first final of the revamped FIFA Club World Cup, running out 3-0 victors at MetLife Stadium.
Chelsea weren't given much of a fighting chance heading into the showdown in New Jersey. Their run throughout the tournament, compared to the gauntlet that PSG faced, was derided as one more reminiscent of their Conference League campaign. When Levi Colwill and captain Reece James expressed their confidence pre-match, there were claims of 'delusion' thrown their way.
Yet here we are in a reality where Chelsea are basking in the golden glow of world domination, again. The club is in a very different position to the last time they won the Club World Cup in 2022, but are still winners all the same. The critical noises surrounding BlueCo have quietened, and that's largely down to their project's star man.
Palmer scored two of Chelsea's three goals and assisted the other for Joao Pedro inside 43 first-half minutes. He was the tactical wrinkle that not even the great Luis Enrique could iron out, his fingerprints all over the game as PSG were tossed to-and-fro by the west Londoners. Now that he has silverware in his cabinet and enough credit in the bank, we can start talking about Palmer in grander terms.