COLE PALMER symbolises the fearlessness and the handbrake-off attitude that I want England to have at the Euros.
When you are a young player and you’ve not really been exposed to the pressures of representing your country, it lets you just play.
And, in any case, it looks like Chelsea star Palmer has that approach regardless of whether he starts or comes off the bench. He radiates almost-cockiness — I love that about him.
What gives you that confidence is your quality and self-belief.
He shows he has that all the time. That ‘ice cold’ celebration of his seems to sum up his game and his mindset.
At various times, including when I was playing, the England team has been screaming out for an identity, and for a player that had that football arrogance.
It’s a thin line with certain people. Sometimes you read it wrong. But I think he gets the balance just right.
It’s not easy to do what Palmer has done . . . leaving Manchester City and going to another big club in Chelsea, who were struggling a little bit, and be the shining light. I’m aware of how highly thought of he was at City.
It’s so difficult coming through at a place like that, just to get a chance in the first team. It speaks volumes that someone like Pep Guardiola backed him.
But then he was sold and had to do it all again at Chelsea, a club that had spent more money trying to find ways of competing at the highest level.
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To step into that scenario and produce what he has produced is exceptional.
It says a lot about Palmer’s character that, even at his age and in his first season at the club, he was prepared to be the main man. He takes responsibility.
We’ve seen loads of technically gifted young players down the years but to have the guts to go and get on the ball is something else.
I do see a bit of myself in Palmer. I was 22, like him, when I went to my first major tournament, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Like him, I also used to try to take responsibility. I wanted to get on the ball.
One of my biggest strengths — which took people time to get used to — was that I wanted to receive the ball with people around me.
I wasn’t quick, I liked to beat people and dribble past people. Something Palmer is good at, which I tried to do, is eliminating players with his first touch.
You wouldn’t say he is blessed with top, top speed. It’s the way he manipulates the ball.
He puts it in positions where they can’t win the ball and if they try, they are going to foul him.
His game is attracting players to him, beating them one-v-one or combining to beat them. And he does it anywhere on the pitch.
So I see some similarities between Palmer and me but I also like the fact that there aren’t many players like him, with that tall, slim build and silky on the ball.
Phil Foden has achieved and won so much at City but, in terms of the way he plays, I probably see myself as having been more similar to Palmer.
Yet Palmer can also go on his right foot better than I did and he can definitely take a penalty. He is much calmer in those situations than I was.
He has so much quality. He can play left, he can play right, he can play inside. I love the way he sees the game and understands it.
It will be interesting to see what Gareth Southgate does with him because he has loads of options in that area of the pitch.
But Palmer can be a really, really important player for England at this tournament.
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