Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso insists Cole Palmer is committed to representing England following question marks raised by national team boss Thomas Tuchel.
Tuchel said Blues forward Palmer “misses too many opportunities” to play international football after he withdrew from his country’s squad ahead of Nations League fixtures against Spain, Czechia and Croatia.
The 24-year-old has since trained with his club and been declared fit for Saturday’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge.
Alonso also expects Reece James, Moisés Caicedo and João Pedro to be available as the Blues bid to bounce back from a thumping 3-0 loss at Brentford three weeks ago.
“He has trained the last week, he has felt better,” Alonso said of Palmer, who pulled out of England duty due to reported load management.
“We didn’t want to rush because we’ve had enough time.
“The most important thing for Cole is to be fully fit, that he enjoys his game, he’s feeling OK.
“In the Brentford game, we could see he was struggling. For the next part, we have good feeling with him and that he’s feeling better.
“He’s committed [to England] but he has to be fully fit to play. And when he’s fully fit he will enjoy his minutes. We need him in that moment: the club and the national team.”
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Palmer was left out of Tuchel’s World Cup squad and has featured just three times since the German took charge of England in January 2025.
Blues captain James missed the recent international window amid another hamstring issue, while striker Pedro sat out the Brentford defeat because of a knee injury, and midfielder Caicedo has played only 14 minutes all season due to a persistent calf problem.
“Yes, he’s ready to go,” Alonso said of Caicedo.
“We have used the time with Moi to be back fit. He’s been training good and he’s OK to go.”
Asked about James, Palmer and Pedro, the Spaniard continued: “They have been able to train, some of them earlier than others.
“We have used the time, and that was the plan. We knew that against Brentford we were with some players struggling but now they have trained well and they are ready to go.
“For the next block of games until the next international break, we have five Premier League games and hopefully they will be available as long but for tomorrow they will be good.”
Former Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid boss Alonso began his reign with back-to-back league wins but has taken just one point from the last nine available.
“It’s going to take time,” he said. “We need to keep improving, keep learning. From each game we are learning things but we need to ensure we don’t make the same mistakes again, knowing that each game is really tough.”
