23 Jan 2026 09:20:43
A few rumours knocking about that Cole Palmer is homesick and wants a return to Mancland, any truth in that ED01 and how good a player do you think he is?

{Ed001's Note - there is a small bit of truth in it, but this is very very common amongst players that are injured. They get miserable and miss home, they miss the comradeship of training every day and messing around with their mates. They get a little bit overlooked and spend a lot of time on their own doing rehab and resting. It is very normal and rarely leads to anything unless they struggle to get back in to the team when fit.

I trained a lot with injured pros when I was in the UK, they are all bloody miserable and want to be with their family when injured. They need the support. When they are a bit older, settled down with wives and kids, they have that support there, so it is not an issue. But a youngster like Palmer will have very little support. Imo clubs have come a long way with the way they look after their prime assets (the players) but this is one thing they can do almost nothing about. You can't keep them included with the group, as they are unable to train with them, you can't be their family, so it is just a case of getting them fit as quickly as possible and back in with the squad properly.

The main issue will be if he has this time to think (can he think? Of all the things Palmer is known for, thinking is not in there at all, bless him!), well time anyway, he might wonder if the club's ambition matches his own. That would be the only thing that would worry me from a Chelsea point of view.}

1.) 23 Jan 2026
23 Jan 2026 09:49:29
Oh well, that's him gone then ED001.

Doubt very much it will be to Man U espically when you talk about ambition of a club.

{Ed001's Note - I don't know about that, Palmer is young and has plenty of time to make a move later.}

2.) 23 Jan 2026
23 Jan 2026 10:27:33
Thanks ED01, that was a great piece and I had never considered all of those factors. Were you an ex pro or medical guy when you were in the UK?

{Ed001's Note - no mate, neither. Just an obsessive trainer and was living in an area with not many facilities to train, so everyone in the area ended up using the same things to train. I was swimming with Olympic swimmers in the run up to 2012 and had my daughter and her friends convinced that the gold postbox was put outside my house for the work I did coaching some of the Olympians. Even though it was me asking them for help with my swimming. They were only 11 though bless em.

What it meant was, the local football team had nowhere specific to train during the summer to keep fit and would end up at local gyms and school playing fields. On days off I would be out with dogs playing footie with them and they would join in for a kickabout initially. But they would always be intrigued as I would run them into the ground endurance wise and astonished that I would do that after a 12 hour shift at work. So I ended up just working with a lot of them on their training to get them fitter. I am talking League 1/2 level mostly. When it started they were still non-league and I had got friendly with their star player, who had to quit the team when they finally won promotion as he was a lawyer or barrister or something like that and couldn't cope with the pay cut he would have to take to play League 2! But it was him who started it as he struggled to maintain the fitness while working long hours, so he was interested in how I could have so much basic fitness.}

3.) 23 Jan 2026
23 Jan 2026 11:20:27
That is really interesting ED01, thanks for your insight.

{Ed001's Note - very welcome.}

4.) 23 Jan 2026
23 Jan 2026 15:29:42
Very interesting posts Ed001. Insights into the emotions of players battling with injuries and also you as swimmer with Olympians, coach and player fitness trainer to local team! Great reads and many thanks for them.

{Ed001's Note - I was only really learning to swim properly as I was intending to do triathlons, so it was really good to get to learn off them. Though it was quite depressing having the Paralympians flash past you with no arms while you were trying to do sprints. Just when you think you are getting quite good, life has a way of reminding you how far you still have to go!}

5.) 23 Jan 2026
23 Jan 2026 17:10:56
Too true Ed001. Has happend to me quite a few times over the years!

6.) 24 Jan 2026
24 Jan 2026 13:23:33
That's some really interesting insights Ed! I guess it's sometimes easy to forget that, at the end of the day, these players are still just human beings.