Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca hits back at Harry Kane criticism after Cole Palmer plays 90 minutes
Harry Kane was critical of the nine players who pulled out of England duty last week and Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has responded to his comments, with Cole Palmer among those who withdrew from the squad
by Matthew Cooper · The MirrorEnzo Maresca has insisted Chelsea did not pressure Cole Palmer to pulling out of the England squad after he played a full 90 minutes in the Blues' 2-1 win against Leicester.
Palmer was one of nine players who withdrew from the original squad for England's wins over Greece and the Republic of Ireland, along with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Aaron Ramsdale, Levi Colwill and Jarrad Branthwaite.
The sheer amount of withdrawals drew major criticism from England captain Harry Kane, who questioned their commitment to the Three Lions. "I think England comes before anything. It comes before club and it is the most important thing you play as a professional footballer," he told ITV.
"Gareth was on hot on that and he wasn't afraid to make decisions if that started to drift from certain players. It's a shame this week obviously. Yeah, I think it's a tough period of the season and maybe that's been taken advantage of a little bit. I don't really like it if I'm totally honest."
However, when asked about Kane's comments shortly after Chelsea's victory over Leicester, Maresca said: "My reaction is that we finished the game ten minutes ago, we won 2-1. There is not any reaction, there is not any comments.
"We finished the game 10 minutes ago. I am not thinking about Harry Kane. I don't have any comments about that." He was also asked if Chelsea pressured Palmer to withdraw ahead of a busy run of games and insisted: "Absolutely not."
Palmer has cemented himself as a key player for Chelsea since joining the club from Manchester City in 2023 and they are keen to manage his workload, having left him out of their squad for the Conference League group stage as a result.
During the game, Leicester's Wilfried Ndidi was lucky to escape with a yellow card for a challenge on Palmer which saw him catch the back of his heel. However, Maresca defended Ndidi when asked about the incident.
"I don't think the target is Cole," Maresca said. "I said after the Man United game, when there is bad intention, it has to be a different punishment from the referee. I'm not saying Wilf had a bad intention because I love Wilf.
"It's not just our players. For me, it's general. Whenever there is bad intention, the punishment has to be different. I don't think [it should have been a red card], to be honest."
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