Palmer enjoyed a remarkable 2023/24 campaign following his move to Chelsea, scoring 27 goals and creating 15 assists in all competitions.

The 22-year-old continued that form onto the international scene this summer, helping England reach the EURO 2024 final and scoring in the defeat to Spain.

Palmer’s stock has elevated further this season under Maresca, scoring six goals and creating five assists in eight games, no to mention winning the Premier League’s Player of the Month award for September.

His consistent performances over the last 12 months means Palmer is now regularly marked man-to-man in matches, as was the case last weekend against Liverpool.

But the increased attention on Palmer, and the impressive strength of the Blues squad, does mean opportunities will be presented to his team-mates, with Nicolas Jackson (5 goals, 3 assists), Christopher Nkunku (8 goals), Mykhailo Mudryk (1 goal, 5 assists) and Noni Madueke (5 goals) all having five or more goal involvements this season, with the likes of Pedro Neto (2 goals, 1 assist) and Jadon Sancho (3 assists) among the others to make a real impact thus far.

Maresca was asked about Palmer being man-marked during his pre-Newcastle United interview and replied: ‘We use the weapon of the other team that if they want to man-mark Cole then we probably need to find another solution.

‘But also the next step forward for Cole is to get used to playing with that situation – he has to learn and you can see sometimes he gets frustrated because it is not easy being man-marked for 90 to 95 minutes but all of the players at that level get used to being marked man-to-man.’