Cole Palmer IS the best player in the Premier League, insists Jamie Carragher - as he likens Chelsea star's impact to five-time Champions League winner

Jamie Carragher believes Chelsea ace Cole Palmer is currently the best player in the Premier League and felt he also deserved the title last season.

Palmer became the first player to score four times in the first half of a top-flight game after putting Brighton to the sword at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

The forward has hit the ground running this campaign and similarly impressed last year, having scored 27 goals and provided 15 assists in 48 appearances.

Since joining from his boyhood club Manchester City in a deal worth around £42million last summer, Palmer, 22, has not looked back and Carragher has even compared his impact to a five-time Champions League winner.

The pundit also admitted he felt the England man was the standout performer in the Premier League in 2023-24 despite giving the accolade to Phil Foden instead.

Speaking on Monday Night Football, he said: 'Last season I was a little bit reticent to say he was the best player in the Premier League. I actually felt he was, but the fact Chelsea hadn't had such a great season, I ended up going for Foden. 

'But inside me I felt he was the the best player in the Premier League. if he carries on this again this season, I think he's the best player in the Premier League. He's not playing with the absolute elite at Manchester City. 

'When I look at him now and I think of the last player I classed as the best player in the Premier League who didn't play for one of the teams going for the title, it was probably Gareth Bale. 

'For a couple of years at Tottenham he was the best player in the Premier League even though his team was just battling for the Champions League.'

Carragher went on to explain that he felt sorry for Foden with Palmer having swooped in to take up a position in the Three Lions' attacking ranks.

He added: 'He's [Foden] never really grabbed that England position. Players have come from nowhere and took his place. 

'At one stage it felt like he was going to be the right winger, and then Saka comes in. Then it's OK, he's the No 10. Jude Bellingham comes in. Then you think we'll get it in him somewhere, he's left footed - Cole Palmer comes along. 

'I adore Phil Foden but Cole Palmer has to play in the England team. For me, right now, there's no better player in the Premier League over the last 15 months.'

Despite his scintillating exploits, Palmer has remained firmly grounded, a trait Blues boss Enzo Maresca believes will serve his talisman well during his career. 

'He is a top player,' Maresca said. 'And the important thing about the previous thing, today in football, young players change very quick.

'They score one goal, and they think they are already... Cole has scored many goals, many assists, he is a top player, but he has never changed. 

'This is the most important thing.'