Palmer's England Snub is an Insult for an Insult That Should Not be Common

Give Over, Cole Palmer...

I do not like Thomas Tuchel as England manager. In fact, I'll drop the guillotine an inch further and say I full-on 'dislike' Tuchel as our national boss. However, time and time again, he has to deal with his intelligence being insulted by our crop of miserable players. It's happened again today, as Chelsea star Cole Palmer is withdrawn from the Three Lions squad for the coming four-game, three-week break and 'more are expected to follow'.

Cole-fucking-Palmer? The same Palmer who didn't go to the World Cup and plays for a club who don't have European fixtures to content with this season? Are we quite having a bloody laugh?

BREAKING: Cole Palmer is withdrawing from the England squad because of a muscle injury 🚨 pic.twitter.com/iMb5PvWxF9

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) September 21, 2026

Why on earth would you sniffle and cry about missing out on a major tournament, when you can't be bothered to represent your country for the lesser fixtures? Yes, you play a lot of football. This might come as a slight suprise to you, but it's your job and you are paid an eye-watering amount of money to do it. As I've been punching these words in, the reason behind Palmer's withdrawal has been updated to 'small muscle injury'... again, how thick do you think we are?

I would bet the house on him being absolutely fine, but Chelsea don't want to send him away for the break. I remember a time when playing for England used to be the honour of all honours, and now we have reached a point where superstar footballers are so overpaid and so under-worked that they deem themselves as being above pulling on their national stripes.

But, alas, this is the world of football we find ourselves in for nowadays. The spark sent by Ben White's spoilt-brat-esque rejection of an England call-up has now lit a fire that allows players to come and go as they please for the national team. But hey, I'm sure these players that are happy to drop out of an international friendly call-up at the drop of a hat or stub of a toe won't complain at all to the press when they don't get trusted and chosen for a major tournament! What's that? Oh...

Player Power Has an Alarming Weight in 2026

It's been the case for some time that players carry a lot of power behind them. Don't like the manager anymore? Down tools and cost him his job. Want to leave the club? Kick up an almighty fuss that the media will lap up. We see it time and time again in 2026.

But - and maybe this is me being old-fashioned - one thing that players should not have any say in is whether they play for their country or not. If you aren't good enough, you don't and if you are, you do. None of this dropping out as a 'precaution' nonsense. In any sense, I'm happy because my beloved Morgan Gibbs-White has been called up instead (a situation highly farcical in it's own right).

I wonder how much FC 27 Palmer will play during the break...

What load is Cole Palmer managing? Wasn’t he resting at home during the World Cup? https://t.co/EO4jn8z1w4

— WelBeast (@WelBeast) September 21, 2026

And he won't be alone in the withdrawal rounds, according to the reports first broken by David Ornstein - Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo of Manchester United are also set to drop out with small issues that will also probably fall under the umbrella excuse of 'load management'.

But where do we draw the line, realistically? Yes, Palmer spent some time out injured over the last year or so which impacted his form, so allowing a lot of recovery time to help him re-capture that form would be important. But did he not have the entire summer to do that? Does he not have a mountain of time this season to do so again, with Chelsea missing out on Europe? What about Saka, who played constantly over the summer, all of last season and has more Europe this term? Is he not allowed to invent a mysterious problem and miss out on the multi-week break?

So Palmer who didn’t go to the World Cup and doesn’t play in Europe pulls out

Whilst Saka will continue to be rinsed 🙃 https://t.co/Mi7P1pOcOG

— Rory Talks Football (@Rory_Talks_Ball) September 21, 2026

Again, I remember when playing for England was the honour to end all honours, the dream every back-garden footballer held collectively as they were growing up. However, in the sad era of multi-millionaire players and the power they now hold, representing the Three Lions is no longer the end goal for so many entitled footballers. It's beneath them, and they'd rather kick back and enjoy their riches on a three-week break.

It's ridiculous.