Cole Palmer has been a revelation for Chelsea since his move from Manchester City last year. With 20 goals and nine assists in 27 Premier League games so far, he’s turning out to be one of their best signings in decades.
Free from his sporadic role under Pep Guardiola and given all the freedom to showcase his talent at Stamford Bridge, Palmer has been wreaking havoc on Chelsea’s opponents. He’s even scored back-to-back hattricks for the Blues in their last two home league games, becoming only the second Chelsea player (after Didier Drogba) to do so. With his four-goal haul in the recent 6-0 battering of Everton, Palmer also matched Erling Haaland at the top of the Premier League Golden Boot race.
But despite all his heroics, the Englishman somehow remains extremely underrated on EA Sports’ FC 24. Before his breakthrough at Chelsea, Palmer began the season being rated as a 66 overall. That was actually a downgrade from the 67 overall he had in FIFA 23. That is earning EA a lot of heat right now because of how shamefully low that rating card was.
With that being said, EA has done the right thing by steadily increasing the Chelsea winger’s rating as the season has progressed. For example, he is currently rated at 77 – which is probably still much lower than he deserves after this kind of a season. His maximum potential is around 84 in career mode – and the 21-year-old is actually valued at just around £18.4 million – despite being signed for over double that price (£40m) than that by Chelsea last year.
However, seeing the steady rise in his rating over the course of the season, fans have gotten to predicting how high his card upgrade could go. This pertains to how his FC 24 rating can be increased as the season wears along with his possible rating for the upcoming FC 25 later on in 2024.
Of course, some overly-excited Chelsea fans are absolutely trying their best to Palmer to be among the highest-rated stars in the game. Some are dreaming of seeing him rated in the 90s bracket – even though there are currently only 12 players rated 90 or above in the game.
After seeing him break so many records at Stamford Bridge this season, a few Chelsea fans want EA to ensure that Palmer breaks the record for the highest increase in a player’s rating card in a single FIFA (or FC) edition. That is, however, quite impossible as that feat was achieved by Brazilian footballer Doka. In FIFA 15, Doka was initially rated at 48 at the beginning but that jumped up by 27 places to 75 later on in the 2014/15 season.
In comparison, if Palmer was given a +27 or +28 rating spike before FC 25 is released, he’d soar up to 93 – making him the highest-rated player in the game. Despite his heroics, that is quite unreasonable to imagine. However, some fans are in agreement that Palmer definitely deserves to be in the 80s bracket for the kind of season he’s enjoying.
There is a logical reasoning seeking for Palmer to be rated in the mid-80s or in the 83-85 bracket in FC 24 for the campaign he’s enjoyed. He is, anyhow, likely to be rated in the 80s once the FC 25 edition comes out. However, some Chelsea fans have enough reason to be pessimistic that Palmer isn’t given the kind of rating spike he deserves after the way EA rated their squad for FC 24 – with their highest-rated being the injury-prone Christopher Nkunku (86) and only seven players rated 80 or above.
Some rival fans are also taking cheeky swipes at Palmer’s feat of having scored nine of his 20 league goals through penalties by claiming that he’ll get a really high penalty-taking attribute. His current penalty-taking attribute, for example, is around 80. With that being said, Palmer definitely deserves to be Chelsea’s highest-rated player on FC 24 or the upcoming FC 25 with the kind of impact he’s made.
The Englishman has dragged the Blues out of trouble numerous times this season. He is a front-runner to win both the PFA Young Player of the Season and potentially even the Player of the Season title if able to help Chelsea finish the season with a bang and the FA Cup title!
