'I played with and against Ronaldo – Chelsea ace Cole Palmer shares same special quality'

Gary Neville has noticed an exceptional quality in Cole Palmer reminiscent of former Manchester United team-mate, Cristiano Ronaldo. Neville and Ronaldo were at United together from 2003 to 2009, during which time they won three Premier League titles and a Champions League crown.

While the Englishman excelled at the back, Ronaldo’s scintillating form yielded 118 goals across 292 matches before his transfer to Real Madrid. Neville says that Palmer embodies a critical attribute he recognised in Ronaldo throughout their six-year tenure together up in the north west. While speaking on The Overlap US YouTube channel, Neville explained: “The big thing for me when I watch Chelsea play – and Ronaldo used to do this when he got to maturity level, 2006 to 2008 at Manchester United – he would play in the area of the pitch where his team needed him, and where he could do the most damage.

“I actually watched him in a game against Crystal Palace last season where they were struggling in the first half of the game, and he then went on to the right-hand side and he flipped his position. All of a sudden, Chelsea started to play, they started to create problems.

“So if Cole Palmer is playing centrally, he can basically cause problems – but if he’s not, you can move him to the right, you can move him to the left, you can move him up top. And I think he’s got to that point now whereby he’s become Chelsea’s most important player, but I think he’s also a player that can dictate on the pitch where he plays.

“And I think you have to be very special to do that, because that was a license that I wasn’t willing to give Ronaldo in those early days because he was stood in front of me on the right side, and he’d switch and go and play on the left and flip his position. Or he’d go and play centre forward and I’d be like ‘Where’s he gone?’,” reports the Mirror.

“And then after about probably three or four months from that 2006 season, when he started scoring ten goals, fifteen goals, I think ‘Hang on a minute, this guy knows what he’s doing – he’s preying on the weak point of the opposition team’. And I think that’s what Cole Palmer does.

“I think Cole Palmer has an unbelievable understanding of the game, unbelievable technical ability, and also the composure in front of goal. When you put those three things together, that is really, really special – and you cannot believe right now, sat here, how City have got that one so wrong.

“Because we know they got a good price for him, but his trajectory is absolutely fantastic, and City don’t normally get those ones wrong.” As well as playing with Ronaldo at club level, Neville found himself on the opposite side of the pitch with the footballer great on the international stage.

Most famously, the two men played against one another in the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup, when Wayne Rooney was infamously sent off for standing on Ricardo Carvahlo’s groin. Portugal won the tie 3-1 on penalties.

Palmer, meanwhile, climbed the ranks of Manchester City’s youth system before penning his first professional contract with the club in 2020. However, he found regular football hard to come by under Pep Guardiola due to fierce competition from players like Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden.

He moved to Chelsea during last year’s summer transfer window for a hefty £40million and immediately made an impact, largely thanks to his ability to play anywhere across the front three as well as in an attacking midfield role.

In his debut Premier League season with the Blues, he scored 22 goals and provided 11 assists, and he’s already off to a strong start this season too, with six goals and four assists to his name before Sunday’s game against Nottingham Forest. His standout performance so far for the Blues came during last week’s 4-2 victory over Brighton, where he netted four times past Bart Verbruggen in the first half of the match.