Fearless, confident and full of beans, 'cool' Cole Palmer is exactly what England needs to start the party at Euro 2024, writes OLIVER HOLT

The sun blazed down at England’s base in Thuringia on Friday and the light came in. If England’s European Championship so far has been a story of promise as yet unfulfilled, the young stars who everyone hopes will transform the campaign strolled through the grounds of the castle that is the FA’s media base to talk to the press.

Kobbie Mainoo, who was so impressive in his second half performance against Slovenia on Tuesday and who many expect to start alongside Declan Rice in midfield against Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday, was the first to wander into the castle’s courtyard with manager Gareth Southgate.

Anthony Gordon was next, the young Newcastle United winger laughing wryly about the bike accident that has given him a grazed chin and cuts on his hands, and hoping that he might get more against the Slovaks than the few minutes he played at the end of the game against Slovenia.

And then there was Cole Palmer, the man who has been identified by many as the antidote to the struggles Southgate’s team has endured in its first three games and anointed the maverick, quicksilver player, the creative, fearless youngster England must turn to in order to propel them out of the doldrums.

Palmer’s attitude exemplifies everything England are going to need if they are to start to build momentum in this tournament. His trademark celebration, where he crosses his arms in front of him to signify he is ‘cold’ sums it up, too. England need his nervelessness as well as his skill.

Palmer, 22, is a fascinating player to talk to. His youth and his nonchalance shine out of him. He does not try to be someone he isn’t. He is confident enough in himself that he does not feel any need to dissemble. His answers are often laced with mischief.

Exhibit A: he was asked about his (supposed) nickname, Beans. ‘You’ve got a serious liking for Baked Beans?’ he was asked.

‘What?’ he said.

‘Baked Beans?’

‘I don’t have a serious liking for them,’ Palmer said. ‘I have just had them a few times.’

‘Some players call you "Beans?"

‘No,’ Palmer said. ‘No one calls me Beans.’

It transpires that it is only Chelsea goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic who calls him Beans and that is because Palmer calls him ‘Beetroot’.

‘I like beans,’ Palmer said, ‘but he always eats beetroot — he has beetroot for everything, he will have it for breakfast, dinner and tea.’

Exhibit B: I tried to claim Palmer as a Stockport native, like Phil Foden and Mainoo. He shot that down, too.

‘Can Stockport claim you? You’re Wythenshawe really aren’t you?’

‘Yeah,’ Palmer said.

‘Are you a Stockport fan?’

‘No,’ Palmer said. ‘Man United.’

‘Did you ever go to Stockport?’

‘It was close to me, I was not Stockport, I was Wythenshawe. It’s a Manchester postcode.’

It’s part of the reason Palmer’s so interesting to talk to. His Mancunian insouciance is amusing. He is not easily impressed or given to great animation. He has the kind of confidence that suggests nothing really fazes him.

It’s that personality that is part of the reason he had the confidence and the ambition to leave Manchester City and move to Chelsea and why he was such a huge hit at Stamford Bridge last season.

It is the reason why there are growing calls for him to play a more prominent role in this England team.

He may not start against Slovakia but it is easy to see him being Southgate’s first change if England need a spark. He is growing in stature all the time.

He is a student of the game, too, someone who loves watching great players.

‘Have you watched much of the football at the tournament,’ he was asked.

‘I’ve got nothing else to do, have I?’ Palmer replied, grinning.

He said he had been impressed by Austria, most of all. He gave honourable mentions to Turkey and Georgia and said that Spain’s 16-year-old wonderkid Lamine Yamal and Germany’s Jamal Musiala were the individuals who had caught his eye.

Palmer also painted a picture of a camp where many of the country’s most exciting young talents are relishing the excitement and the experience of being at their first major tournament. He said he had been surprised how good the facilities were for the England players at their hotel.

Since he arrived in Germany, he said he had become addicted to the racket sport, padel, which is growing all the time in popularity and that he, Mainoo and Crystal Palace’s young midfielder Adam Wharton have a healthy rivalry.

‘I’m addicted now,’ Palmer said. ‘I never played before I came here so then when I started playing, once I had one game, that was it. Just carried on playing. Kobbie will say he’s the best. I’ll say it’s me and Adam will say it’s Adam. It’s probably Adam but only because he used to play tennis so he’s cheating, really.’

Palmer injected an element of skill and unpredictability into the England side that it had been missing since the first half of the opening game against Serbia when he was introduced against Slovenia and he is keen for another taste of action against Slovakia.

‘I wouldn’t say I was nervous when I came on,’ Palmer said. ‘Obviously, you’re thinking about what it’s going to be like but I don’t think in terms of nerves. It’s just wondering what it’s going to be like because it’s your first one and you’ve got players here who have done five tournaments. They’ve helped the new ones.

‘I just wait for my time and when I get on I just try to do what I do. I was just excited to get on for 20 minutes against Slovenia and thought I was going to try to do something or make an impact. I could have scored at the end…’

‘Has that haunted you a bit?’ Palmer was asked.

‘Nah,’ he said. ‘I think I’m ready to start but it’s not up to me. I wouldn’t say I’m impatient because I know it’s my first tournament and you’ve got players like Bukayo (Saka), Phil and Jude (Bellingham) in my position so it is understandable. But I just want to get on and impress when I do.

‘Ask any player who’s sat on the bench and they think, “Get me on”. It’s just normal to want to go on the pitch. Am I aware of people saying I should start? Not really. You can see on social media what fans think. There’s loads of different teams people want to play, so it’s normal. It’s nice to see people want me to play but it’s not up to them, is it?’

For a player who has not done many media interviews before, Palmer held court brilliantly. He talked about the debt he owed Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea, the fact that he played under new boss Enzo Maresca when he was in Manchester City’s youth set-up and that his first position when he was a kid was left back.

Because England are so short of left backs, that got a roar of laughter from the journalists sitting in a semi-circle in front of him. It was the only time Palmer looked alarmed.

He told one last story, too, that seemed to sum up how far England have travelled under Southgate and the way that the side is still evolving. He said his first World Cup memory was Frank Lampard’s shot that hit the underside of the bar against Germany in South Africa in 2010.

The first World Cup game he had watched live, he said, was Russia against Belgium at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro in 2014. It turns out his grandad, Gary, had moved out to Rio. ‘He didn’t like the weather in Manchester so he moved to Rio,’ Palmer said. Palmer, who was 12, and his family stayed in an apartment his grandad had rented.

So had he seen England play at the 2014 World Cup?

‘No,’ Palmer said. ‘By the time I got there, they’d already been knocked out.’

The glint in his eye was back.