Cole Palmer has captured US imagination and 1.5 billion people could help him catch Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham

11/12/2024 07:07 AM

When Todd Boehly fronted the seismic purchase of Chelsea Football Club in 2022, the ambition was clear.

Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital saw Chelsea as a mirror image of another club they'd overseen, the LA Dodgers.

Immediately, they went to work aiming to build Chelsea as the football-equivalent of the Dodgers. For the baseball team it was the likes of Mookie Betts and more recently Shoehi Ohtani who were recruited not only to give them the best chance of winning, but also to make sure that no one else could lay claim to the biggest stars in the game.

The glitz and the glamor of the city of Los Angeles is represented in the Dodgers and heading across the pond to another of the world's epic cities in London, particularly the affluent area of West London where Chelsea's Stamford Bridge lies, the target was identical.

Grow the club by winning, but grow the club equally by purchasing stock in players that stand out, names that stand out. That ideal has led to a billion dollar spending spree and while the Dodgers' expenditure has yielded significant success – most recently with the 2024 World Series – Chelsea's progress has been far murkier.

Amongst the more than 30 players recruited to west London since Boehly rode into town, a number of those were star names such as Raheem Sterling and an admittedly ageing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Meanwhile, more than £200m was splurged to bring in Enzo Fernandez shortly after his heroic World Cup display in Qatar and then Moises Caicedo to further beef up the midfield.

Joao Felix arrived for the second time this summer while Christopher Nkunku was supposed to grow into one of the globe's most dangerous attackers. Yet, the majority of the big-money additions have disappointed. Sterling is now playing for rivals Arsenal – Chelsea agreeing to pay a significant portion of his wages just to get rid of him – while Enzo has started just six times in the Premier League this season including none of his side's last four matches.

Among the litany of mediocrity, one star has started to shine amongst the brightest in all of the Premier League. Ten different Boehly-led signings cost more than him, but no one has helped rescue the Clearlake project like Cole Palmer.

He's a somewhat nontraditional superstar but the numbers speak for themselves. 45 combined goals and assists in 44 Premier League games tell the story. Palmer has graduated from promising youngster and well into superstar territory. No one will be happier than Boehly and his fellow ownership group.

So has his brightening star reached the United States? The answer is yes but it's significantly more complicated than that. 

An element of Palmer's ascending star comes from his signature 'Cold Palmer' celebration, an image that is no doubt being repeated during school lunch breaks all over the UK.

In the growing world of social media, an iconic and repeatable image is essential and Cole Palmer has developed one early into his career. That's the image that has transcended club allegiance in England and it's the image that has helped him rise not only in his native country but also across the pond.

Perhaps no individual moment summed up Palmer's growing influence more than the bottom of the third inning of the New York Yankees' ALDS Game 1 against the Kansas City Royals. With the Yankees trailing 1-0, shortstop Gleyber Torres launched a two-run home-run. Rounding the bases, Torres looked towards his team's dugout and crossed his arms in imitation of Palmer's now-iconic celebration. 

Some on social media thought the celebration was an homage to NBA star Trae Young who has been doing a similar sign for even longer than Palmer but Torres later confirmed on his Instagram that it was Palmer who he was matching. Considering Young's stature as a 3x All-Star, it says a lot about Palmer's influence that he's retained ownership of his celebration, even in a country that idolizes basketball over football.

So can Palmer reach the heights of someone like David Beckham – who virtually summited the US soccer landscape – or Christian Pulisic who is held tight as America's prodigal son? The early signs are promising and if his growth in the UK is anything to go off of, then clearly he has the potential to be a leader in the next wave of football talent.

But perhaps, Palmer has a ceiling from an international lens. Not a ceiling in terms of his on-the-pitch production. But in terms of his superstar potential. Numerous TikToks have gone viral showing Palmer discussing his life away from football with quotable moments including his love for "chippy chips".

Part of Palmer's appeal in England is that he comes across as a totally regular person. That's not meant to sound negative, it's only to say that he doesn't appear with the superstar aura of someone like Beckham or Cristiano Ronaldo. And if anything, that's helped him in his home country. Palmer is completely relatable because you could easily imagine running into him at your local chip shop.

But that relatability disappears a little bit when looking internationally. Chip shops and chippy chips don't exist in the US where more traditional superstars have flourished in a sporting culture that appreciates glamor and elegance.

Perhaps, though, no one provides an example of the success Palmer can have in the American market more than another of Boehly's superstars, Shohei Ohtani. The Japanese sensation is on track to cruise into the MLB Hall of Fame but his personality is marked by modesty and a commitment to normality. He's far from the traditional superstar of American sport but that makes the comparison to Palmer surprisingly accurate.

Of course, the big stumbling block in a comparison like that, is that Palmer plays his football in Europe and that's likely to be the case for the next decade or more. Meanwhile, Ohtani is plying his trade in the US making him an everyday reality rather than a somewhat distant star.

The reality is that outside of Lionel Messi and Ronaldo, no one has really managed to break the mold and become a household name that runs deeper than just football circles without actually playing in the US. 

For Palmer to reach the heights of those two multi-time Ballon d'Or winners, he'll either have to make a concerted effort to chase the US market – which seems incredibly unlikely considering his personality – or he'll have to join the MLS, a possibility but not any time soon.

There is however, one more viable path. Football has been growing at a rapid rate in the US for the past decade and that rise should peak in 2026 with the World Cup in North America.

FIFA say 1.5 billion people watched the 2022 World Cup and each edition is an opportunity for stars to be born and this one should provide a unique chance for players – intentionally or not – to showcase themselves to a wider American audience.

If he continues at his current pace, Palmer will be a leader for England in two years time. It's no guarantee but that could be enough to see him cement his status within the United States. 

Palmer is a rare and non-traditional superstar. That has likely helped his stock at home but abroad, it makes him slightly less interesting and perhaps slightly less marketable.