Cole Palmer has performed so brilliantly for Chelsea that, until a few months ago, some referred to him as “FC Palmer” during his peak days.

However, Palmer experienced his first season at Chelsea under Mauricio Pochettino. It was a dream season for him, having just left Manchester City to join Chelsea. Palmer directly contributed to 40 goals for Chelsea that season, scoring 25 and providing 15 assists.

Last season ended with Palmer’s brilliance, and the 22-year-old English star began working with Enzo Maresca, Chelsea’s new manager, this season. Palmer has somewhat declined this season and has at least failed to replicate his outstanding stats from last season. So far, he has scored 14 goals and provided 8 assists in 37 matches.

Palmer has not scored since January 14, which seems unusual. Some believe the role Maresca has assigned to Palmer has made it harder for him to influence Chelsea’s goals. Critics of Chelsea’s manager say Palmer also complains about this situation, which has affected his morale and motivation.

Amid these rumors, Cole Palmer’s recent Instagram story has led critics to claim that Palmer is signaling his dissatisfaction with his current situation and longing for the days when he had more freedom to score and create goals for Chelsea.

These rumors are not baseless. In Chelsea’s last seven matches under Maresca, Palmer has only played the full 90 minutes once.

In this story, Palmer revived the memory of an outstanding performance for himself and Chelsea—Chelsea’s 6-0 victory over Everton in April 2024, when he scored four goals single-handedly. Palmer used the word “joy” in his story to show how much he enjoyed playing football for Chelsea back then.

Some Chelsea fans say this is just a normal nostalgic post from Cole Palmer, but Maresca’s critics argue that Palmer is far from satisfied with his current situation under the manager and that his intention with this story is to remind fans of the brilliance he could achieve under a manager who trusted him.