As the end-of-year awards season comes around, there is only one contender for the best footballer of 2024. Step forward Chelsea star Cole Palmer.

From all the highlights of Palmer’s incredible 12 months, his audacious Panenka penalty against Tottenham Hotspur perhaps best illustrates his calendar year.

Palmer is a player who takes your breath away and he did just that by dinking in his second penalty of the game against Tottenham to seal his team’s brilliant comeback victory.

If there was any doubt over whether or not Palmer has been the year’s best footballer, then the Panenka – scored in the 84th minute with the result still in the balance – made sure of it.

“When I stepped back and looked at the clock I thought it’s a bit frantic, the game is all over the place and I thought the keeper was ready to dive so I just chipped it,” said Palmer.

Remember, this is the player who last year revealed he did not even practise penalties, let alone spend any extra hours on the training pitch perfecting his technique.

Asked if Palmer has been practising penalties this season, Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said: “Probably since we started, I didn’t see Cole shooting penalties [in training]. In terms of the second penalty, he scored. He scored. You have to expect anything.

“Cole belongs to that group of players that are not normal players, they are top players. Top players, they do things that normal players, or us, we say ‘how do they do that?’ It’s because it’s Cole, it’s because he’s top. And we can expect this from Cole.”

The Panenka was another moment to cherish for Chelsea fans, who sing “Palmer again, ole, ole” every week, and is just the latest example of why there has been nobody as good as him.

Chelsea have had some wonderful players over the past couple of decades and Palmer needs the winner’s medals to go with his performances before he can be offered a place at the club’s top table with the likes of Frank Lampard, John Terry and Didier Drogba.

But in terms of providing magic moments, such as his four-goal shows against Brighton and Everton, and a hat-trick against Manchester United, Palmer has been untouchable in 2024.

Palmer’s penalties against Spurs took him to 38 Premier League goals and assists for the year, with four league games of 2024 still to go.

He has already beaten Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s Chelsea record of 36 Premier League goals and assists in a calendar year, which was set back in 2001, and it’s almost impossible to see Palmer failing to hit the magic 40.

Palmer is coolness personified, as proven by the fact he now holds the best 100 per cent penalty conversion rate in Premier League history, having netted 12 consecutive times from the spot.

Ahead of his first penalty on Sunday, Palmer had to wait an age for referee Anthony Taylor to give him the green light to take the kick. But he was calm enough to put his foot on the ball and tighten his laces before finding the net.

It had been a similar story when some Tottenham fans desperately attempted to knock Palmer off his stride in the first half by throwing scrunched-up tifo placards at him.

Rather than goading the Spurs fans or trying to rush his corner kick, Palmer simply waited and watched as the paper missiles rained down on to the pitch. It felt inevitable that he would provide his response with his feet and so he did.

Palmer had a hand in the goal Enzo Fernández scored to put Chelsea into the lead by slaloming his way past a few challenges. He causes panic in opposition defences and that was certainly the case when Pape Sarr needlessly brought him down for the second spot-kick.

Some players do not like to take penalties they have won. Others do not always fancy taking a spot-kick when they have already scored one. Not Palmer. There was never any doubt he would take the ball, but to score with a Panenka was, quite frankly, taking the mick.

Tottenham’s only consolation was that they are just a number of teams Palmer has embarrassed in 2024. He and Chelsea may not want the year to end, but their form suggests that even better things may be around the corner in 2025.

“I had Cole for one year four years ago at Manchester City, in the under-23s,” said Maresca. “The best thing is that he is now, after two years, 20 goals, 30 goals, he is exactly the same guy. Love football, humble, no strange things and this is the best thing for Cole and for young players. Because today young players, if they play one good game, they already think …they lose balance. Cole, the best thing is he is always the same, doesn’t change and we are very happy with Cole.”