Chelsea forward Cole Palmer is in the form of his life on the pitch. Not very long ago, he scored four goals in the first half of a Premier League clash against Brighton & Hove Albion and in just nine appearances in all competitions this season, he has nine strikes and four assists to his name.
However, the Englishman has been trolled on social media for his behaviour off the pitch. Palmer visibly lacks confidence in the press conferences or media interviews, usually answering questions with a straight face and short-worded answers. The look on his face has also earned him a joking reputation of being “autistic” and “dumb” at times, though it is all in good humour.
The English international recently featured in an Instagram post, which came through an account that did not belong to him, and was as usual, straight faced with a wry smile on his face with eyes wide open. He did give the impression of a person under the influence of drugs and one user was quick to point it out.
He commented “Palmer pre match meal is a 3.5” to which the Chelsea footballer replied with laughing emojis. The interaction in Instagram’s comment section was caught by a Twitter user, who shared the screenshot and subjected Palmer to even more trolling from the social media community, this time regarding his knowhow about British slangs surrounding the consumption of weed.
For those requiring further context, a 3.5 is a measurement in grams of a one-eighth strand of weed that is sold in the United Kingdom and is usually enough to trip over even the most tolerant of smokers, let alone an elite professional footballer like Palmer, who one would expect to stay away from such vices.
Weed culture is massive in the United Kingdom in spite of cannabis consumption being illegal, but so far no footballer has been recorded to have found guilty of consuming the drug, though one would be far from surprised if Cole Palmer was among those who smoked up, given how spaced out he looks everywhere he is off the football field.
In serious terms, it remains to be seen if the screenshot of Palmer’s comment is doctored or not, because knowing the English FA, you would not be shocked if they decided to take action against Palmer and called him in for a statement in spite of the interaction being a piece of banter between two individuals, as one would understand in an ideal world.
In reality, whether he consumes drugs or not, Palmer remains a superb player and that’s all that matters to Chelsea and their head coach Enzo Maresca, who will count on his star performer when his side visit Liverpool on matchday eight of the Premier League on Sunday, 20th October. It is first against fourth in the English top division’s standout fixture of the upcoming game-week.
If the Blues are to win, Palmer will need to produce a performance worthy of making the headlines for all the good reasons, among which is definitely not being associated with weed.
