Chelsea: Enzo Maresca 'not thinking about Harry Kane' as Cole Palmer shakes off fitness worry

Enzo Maresca insists Chelsea did not put pressure on Cole Palmer to pull out of England duty this month, despite the midfielder making an immediate return to action for his club.

Palmer played the full 90 minutes during Saturday lunchtime’s 2-1 victory over Leicester at the King Power, having done likewise in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal before the international break.

In between, however, he dropped out of the England squad as one of a swathe of high-profile withdrawals for what was Lee Carsley’s final camp as interim manager.

The situation drew fierce criticism from England captain Harry Kane, who accused some players of prioritising club over country and suggested the culture fostered under Gareth Southgate is already in danger of being eroded.

“My reaction is that we finished the game ten minutes ago, we won 2-1,” Maresca said, when asked about Kane’s comments. “There is not any reaction, there is not any comments.

“We finished the game 10 minutes ago. I am not thinking about Harry Kane. I don’t have any comments about that.”

Chelsea are concerned about Palmer’s workload following his sudden breakthrough season last term, which saw him go from squad player at Manchester City to talismanic figure at Stamford Bridge.

Palmer was also part of the England squad that reached the final of Euro 2024, scoring in the 2-1 defeat to Spain, and the Blues have already made attempts to manage his minutes this season by leaving him out of their squad for the Conference League group stage.

Asked, however, whether the club put pressure on Palmer to skip England’s Nations League games against Republic of Ireland and Greece ahead of the busy festive period, Maresca said: “Absolutely not.”

Palmer had been a doubt to face Arsenal before the international break following a poor challenge by Lisandro Martinez in the preceding league game, against Manchester United.

The playmaker was on the end of more heavy treatment at Leicester, including one particularly rash tackle from Foxes midfielder Wilfried Ndidi.

Maresca managed Ndidi during Leicester’s Championship-winning campaign last term and while he said he did not feel the challenge warranted any more than a booking, again called for more protection from referees.

“I don’t think the target is Cole,” he added. “What I think, and what I said after Man United, is that when there is bad intention, it has to be a different kind of punishment from the referee.

“Man United, I think, was bad intention. I’m not saying Wilf was bad intention because I love Wild. But overall, when there is [bad intention] the punishment has to be different.”