"He's a really good player" - Antonio Rudiger names Chelsea star who has 'surprised' him a lot
Real Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger has lauded Chelsea's Cole Palmer. He said the Englishman surprised him with his performance.
Rudiger, who joined Real Madrid from Chelsea on a free transfer in July 2022, spent five years at the Stamford Bridge. The Germany international has become an important part of Los Blancos since he arrived at Santiago Bernabeu, making 112 appearances across competitions.
In a recent interview with The Inside Scoop, the 31-year-old talked about his former club and praised Cole Palmer. The attacking midfielder joined Chelsea last summer from Manchester City for a reported transfer fee of £42.5 million. Palmer has made 53 appearances across competitions, bagging 31 goals and 19 assists.
During Chelsea's latest Premier League match against Brighton & Hove Albion on September 28, the 22-year-old scored four goals in the first half, eventually leading the side to a 4-2 win.
Lauding the England international, Antonio Rudiger said:
"Cole Palmer, he surprised me a lot, he surprised me a lot. He really surprised me because you can say, "oh, he was swimming with those big players"... Okay, but then you have to go to another club and show it and he did it. He did it and hats off to him because he's really, really good player."
Palmar has scored six and assisted four goals in six appearances in the Premier League this season. The Blues will next host Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, October 6.
Peter Crouch lauds 21-year-old Chelsea star for recent performance
Former English attacker Peter Crouch praised Renato Veiga's performance during Chelsea's 4-2 win over Gent in the UEFA Conference League on Thursday, October 3.
Veiga joined the Stamford Bridge side for a reported transfer fee of £12 million from FC Basel in the summer. Against Gent, the Portuguese defender scored Chelsea's first goal in the 12th minute. Additionally, he also provided an assist to Christopher Nkunku's second-half goal (63').
Renato Veiga had a passing accuracy of 88% and also won all six duels. Lauding the 21-year-old, Peter Crouch said (via TNT Sports):
"I haven't seen a great deal of him (Veiga), but Joe Cole was telling me what a good player he was. I saw it tonight. I thought he was fantastic, another fantastic player to have in the squad."
"A player who looked like he was enjoying himself and playing wth a smile on his face. He finds himself a lot of space (for his goal).. it was a fantastic header," he added.
Apart from Veiga and Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall also found the back of the net against Gent.