According to a report by Metro on Sunday, September 21, 2025, Frank Leboeuf has openly criticized Enzo Maresca’s decision to start Cole Palmer in Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United, questioning why the midfielder was risked despite ongoing fitness struggles.
Palmer has been battling a persistent groin injury that kept him out of matches against West Ham and Fulham, as well as sidelining him from England duty last month.
Yet, Maresca still named him in the starting XI at Old Trafford, only for Palmer to last 21 minutes before being forced off, heading straight down the tunnel after showing signs of discomfort.
Maresca admitted after the game that Palmer was not “100 per cent fit,” a statement that left Leboeuf baffled.
The ex-Chelsea defender told ESPN: “Cole Palmer is a fantastic player and you need a Cole Palmer to create something, but you need him at 100 per cent.
If you have a Cole Palmer at 60 or 70 per cent, he’s going to be useless because he can’t develop his skills.”
He continued, “I heard the coach say ‘Well, he made a huge effort and he wanted to play’ but if I am the coach, you stay on the bench.”
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Drawing on his own experience, Leboeuf stressed how dangerous such injuries can be: “I had many groin problems throughout my career and you cannot play – it’s a nightmare.
It can last for six months so you need a rest and to make sure you properly heal and you come back only when you’re 100 per cent.
Even if you are Cole Palmer, Maradona or Zidane you only come back when you’re 100 per cent because otherwise you aren’t going to be as good as we expect.”
The situation was further complicated after Chelsea went down to ten men following Robert Sanchez’s red card for a reckless foul on Bryan Mbeumo.
Maresca opted to withdraw both Estevao and Pedro Neto to reinforce the defence, but Leboeuf argued Palmer should have been the obvious sacrifice.
“When you know that you have someone who isn’t fully fit and you have to change a creative player, then you don’t change Neto, you change Palmer because you are going to save Palmer and give a chance to Neto to perform, who is 100 per cent fit,” he explained.
“That’s insane. I don’t know why nobody asked him in the press conference why he changed Neto and not Palmer, knowing that Palmer was not 100 per cent.”
Maresca defended his substitutions, stating: “The reason why we changed Pedro [Neto] and Estevao [Willian] was because they attack with the five players always, and we defend with the four, and we can defend with the four when we are 11 vs 11, but 11 against ten, I think we need to defend on the width, so we decided to go with the back five, this is the reason why.”
He added that Garnacho was also set to come on, but an unexpected request from Wesley Fofana to be replaced forced him into a different decision.
This episode highlights a growing concern over Palmer’s long-term fitness. Reports earlier in the season revealed that Chelsea had been giving him pain injections to cope with the problem, with no major issue appearing on scans.
However, the repeated discomfort suggests that Maresca and the medical staff may need to prioritize Palmer’s recovery rather than risk aggravating the injury further, especially given how vital he is to Chelsea’s creative play.Nkechi Blessing: I’m the Only Woman Whose Big Belly Broke the Internet – Nigerians Have Too Much Time