As Thomas Tuchel prepares to name his England squad on Friday, one question looms larger than any other: will Cole Palmer be in it?

The 24-year-old Chelsea forward has been among the standout performers at Stamford Bridge this season, registering five goals and three assists across all competitions in 11 appearances. Yet his relationship with the national team has been turbulent since Tuchel took charge at the start of 2025, and the England manager has made no secret of his frustration.

"He misses too many opportunities to play for England," Tuchel has said — a pointed assessment that has followed Palmer through a difficult 18 months of injury, withdrawal, and inconsistency at international level.

The case for Palmer

Palmer's output this season makes a compelling argument for inclusion. Among the players competing for England's number 10 role, only his Chelsea team-mate Morgan Rogers has accumulated more goal involvements during the opening months of the campaign.

His numbers, however, require context. When penalties are excluded, Palmer has been outscored by all of his rivals for that position since the beginning of last season. Jude Bellingham of Real Madrid and Rogers have also surpassed him in open-play scoring this season.

Phil Foden of Manchester City, another player omitted from England's World Cup squad, matches Palmer with eight goal involvements this season — though half of Foden's came against AEK Athens in the UEFA Champions League. Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White, who replaced Palmer in Tuchel's most recent squad, creates chances at the same rate (2.6 per game) and has outscored Palmer since the start of the 2025-26 campaign.

Eberechi Eze of Arsenal, selected ahead of Palmer for the World Cup alongside Bellingham and Rogers, is the third-highest contributor among Tuchel's preferred options — with three goals and one assist during the manager's tenure. Palmer, Foden, and Gibbs-White are all chasing that spot in Friday's announcement.

A turbulent international journey

Palmer missed Tuchel's first camp in March 2025 through a hamstring injury, then played 90 minutes for Chelsea days later — a sequence that did little to ease tensions. He featured in the June window, appearing in a 1-0 win away to Andorra before sitting out a friendly defeat by Senegal as an unused substitute.

A recurring groin problem then kept him away from international duty across the September, October, and November breaks, limiting his Chelsea appearances significantly. His last England outing came in March, when he came on in the 56th minute of a 1-1 draw with Uruguay before starting — and lasting just 59 minutes — in a 1-0 defeat by Japan.

Palmer then withdrew from the most recent international break, citing "discomfort and pain" from playing through injury at club level. Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso subsequently confirmed the player had been "struggling" before the break, following a 3-0 defeat by Brentford.

Recovery and return to form

During the nine-day rest period for Chelsea's non-international players, Palmer travelled overseas, bringing a rehabilitation coach and following an injury-specific training plan. On his return, he signed a new contract at Stamford Bridge through 2034.

He then delivered an assist in an 88-minute showing during a 5-1 victory over Bournemouth, and has started every subsequent Chelsea match — except for their EFL Cup penalty shootout defeat by Liverpool, from which he was absent due to suspension after receiving two yellow cards in nine minutes in the home league defeat by Tottenham.

His most recent outing, a 2-0 Premier League win over Manchester United on Saturday, took his season tally to five goals and three assists. Alonso remained supportive: "He's committed but he needs 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."

Bellingham, meanwhile, was named England's player of the year for 2026 after a stunning World Cup summer — seven goals and one assist — as England claimed bronze following a semi-final defeat by Argentina. He leads all of Tuchel's options with eight goals and six assists since the manager's appointment.

Whether Palmer's recent form is enough to overcome Tuchel's well-documented reservations will become clear on Friday morning.