**The Premier League is blessed with a number of brilliant attacking midfield players at the moment.**
Bruno Fernandes just won the PFA Player of the Year, Morgan Rogers is starring at Chelsea, while Phil Foden is a former Player of the Year winner in his own right.
Stam was taking part in a challenge where he had to remain silent until he heard the name of a better midfielder than Martin Odegaard.
Stam stayed quiet throughout the video until he heard Bruno Fernandes’ name, and, interestingly, he skipped Cole Palmer’s name in this video.
Palmer has been excellent for Chelsea for a number of years now, but Odegaard deserves respect as a Premier League winning captain.
However, when you look at the numbers the argument here gets complicated.
Season
Cole Palmer
Martin Ødegaard
Games
Goals
Assists
Mins per contribution
Games
Goals
Assists
Mins per contribution
2026/27
7
2
3
124
7
2
0
281
2025/26
26
10
1
179
24
1
7
171
2024/25
37
15
9
133
30
3
8
212
2023/24
34
22
11
80
35
8
11
163
2022/23
14
0
1
358
37
15
7
143
Total
118
49
25
119
133
29
33
170
Palmer has had much better output than Odegaard over the past three seasons, but, then again, at his most productive, Odegaard did score 15 goals in a single season.
The numbers are very much in Palmer’s favour, but, as anyone will tell you, the game is about more than just numbers on a stat sheet.
Odegaard can influence games in a way that doesn’t reflect in just goals and assists, and we’ve seen plenty of that this season.
However, Palmer is that bit more effective in terms of final product, and over the past few years, you’d potentially argue that he has been operating at a world-class level, while [Odegaard had a dip in form](https://www.arsenalinsider.com/news/he-takes-it-very-personally-the-reason-behind-martin-odegaards-arsenal-form-has-been-revealed/) last season.
Regardless of which player you prefer, this is certainly a very interesting argument.