Palmer enjoyed a remarkable maiden season in Blue: 25 goals in all club competitions, 15 assists, an England debut, finding the net in the Euros final and countless individual awards… it couldn’t have gone much better for the winger.

And the recent two-year contract extension, which takes his current deal up to 2033, means Blues fans will have the pleasure of watching Cole grace Stamford Bridge for many years to come.

He may have just missed out on the senior Player’s Player of the Year crown to Phil Foden, but Cole will now look to follow in his friend’s footsteps by adding it to the Young Player of the Year gong he won tonight in the coming years.

‘It is really special [to win the award] and I just want to say thank you to all of the players for recognising me,’ Palmer said.

‘[The picture] was on my phone as a reminder every day of something to work towards so to win this award is nice.

‘I have never really done anything like that before but it is a special award and it was a reminder to keep going no matter what. It was something I wanted to win.’

The PFA Young Player of the Year award has been around since the early 1970s and the list of former winners is a who’s who of English football: Glenn Hoddle, Mark Hughes, Paul Gascoigne, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane…that is just a handful you could mention.

Palmer becomes just the third Chelsea player to claim the award in its 50-year history after Scott Parker and a certain Eden Hazard, and the 22-year-old said: ‘The list [of former winners] is full of amazing players so to be on that list is really good.’

Palmer’s exploits over the summer, which saw him feature in five of England’s seven Euro 2024 games and score in the final defeat to Spain, resulted in the versatile attacker arriving back at Cobham later than the majority of his team-mates.

It means he has only been working with new head coach Enzo Maresca for the last two weeks but the Italian still started Palmer in our Premier League season opener against Manchester City on Sunday, such is the youngster’s talent.

The England international has been impressed with what he has seen from Maresca so far and now has his sights set on new heights under his leadership.

Palmer said: ‘I want to win trophies with Chelsea, that is the main thing, and then the individual awards are nice.’

‘Life is great, I can’t complain,’ Palmer added when speaking to Sky Sports before the awards.

‘The whole season was a great season personally and hopefully, we can kick on this season.

‘Everyone is excited. The squad is full of young players, we have a great manager and great staff so hopefully, we can have a good season.’