Alan Shearer has questioned Cole Palmer's withdrawal from England's Nations League squad, noting the Chelsea attacker has not played much football after being left out of the World Cup squad this summer.
Palmer was named in Thomas Tuchel's initial 27-man party for England's upcoming matches against Spain, the Czech Republic (home and away) and Croatia. The 24-year-old played the full 90 minutes of Chelsea's 3-0 loss to Brentford on Friday, his seventh appearance of the season in all competitions.
After a difficult 2025/26 campaign with Chelsea, Palmer had hoped to put fitness concerns behind him, having registered four goals and two assists this term.
Five withdrawals from Tuchel's squad
On Monday, Palmer pulled out of the Three Lions' squad along with Arsenal's Declan Rice, Newcastle's Tino Livramento, and Manchester United duo Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo. Everton's James Garner and Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White have been called up as cover.
Shearer told Betfair: 'I think at every opportunity you have to go and play for England. You can't just turn up for World Cups or Euros or whatever.'
'We don't know, and we're speculating, but it's a lot of players to pull out, isn't it? Rice, I guess, his withdrawal is because of the amount of football he's played. It does look as if he's nursing something.'
Palmer's absence a standout issue
A 'minor muscular issue' has been cited as the reason for Palmer's absence. But given his lack of football after a long summer break, Shearer is puzzled by the news.
'The one I don't understand is Cole Palmer's withdrawal from the squad,' the Premier League's all-time top goalscorer added. 'I get that you have to manage your body, but he's not played a lot of football and he's not going to play a lot of football with Chelsea not being in Europe this season. So, without knowing all of the reasoning, that one is the standout one for me, especially when he wasn't at the World Cup.'
Shearer also said the withdrawals give others a chance to stake their claim, with Gibbs-White now having an opportunity to impress Tuchel.
England's upcoming fixtures
Shearer is looking forward to England's four matches, especially Saturday's encounter with Spain at Wembley, a repeat of the Euro 2024 final. He backed England to hold the world champions to a 2-2 draw.
'England's game on Saturday against Spain will have something extra on it because of what happened to England at the World Cup,' he said. 'All the talk and perhaps rightly so until after this game will be how England got knocked out against Argentina.'
Shearer added that the Nations League games are better than friendlies and that England will be desperate to get out onto the pitch again and move on from the Argentina defeat.
