Young players come under too much scrutiny in the modern game, on and off the pitch

Cole Palmer was recently asked what his favourite post-match meal was on a Football Focus segment. His answer, while slightly subdued, came across as more conversational than what most young footballers are generally prepared to show - especially those with a similarly minimal amount of exposure to the media.

Most, in anticipation of being misquoted or misunderstood by the public, often feel obliged to give carefully manufactured, safe answers. Yet Palmer’s approach seemed refreshingly honest - even if not the most animated.

But the comments section of the video on social media was filled with jibes about Palmer’s personality and intelligence. “His brain is in his feet”, read one comment. Another read “he hasn’t a clue what day it is. If it wasn’t for football, he’d be on the dole.”

While it can be easy to chalk this way of thinking up to trolls just being trolls, the reality appears much more troubling. This way of thinking speaks volumes about what fans have come to expect from young ballers. As the profile of the ‘wonderkid’ intensifies on the pitch, the demands on how they portray themselves off it has become extremely unfair.

In England, footballers are often unfairly deemed as unintelligent. This has a lot to do with the fact that most footballers in this country come from working class backgrounds. It derives from the perception that certain players were born only to play football which then places an unhealthy limit on who they are as people. This snobbish notion that they would - at best - be placed in low-skilled roles without their God-given talents.

"The idea that every young player has to know exactly how to present themselves in every waking moment is a wholly unrealistic pressure."

Unfortunately, this is a bias that predates Palmer. We’ve seen the same derisory comments levelled at Jack Grealish, Wayne Rooney and Paul Gascoigne to name just a few. The only thing that’s changed is younger players are given less grace in these situations because they get more media exposure than their predecessors did.
If intelligence is to be measured by how well people articulate their thoughts, a lot of pundits would be out of a job.
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Not only are these attitudes potentially deeply harmful to their personal development, it’s incredibly hypocritical. The idea that every player, particularly young ones, have to be perfectly media trained and eloquent, and know exactly how to present themselves in every waking moment is a wholly unrealistic pressure.
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Think about how eloquent you were when you were 21 years old. Now imagine what that would be like with a camera crew in front of you knowing your every word will be beamed into millions of homes across the country. And now envision a world where people will relentlessly cast aspersions on you as a person just because of the way you talk. Not a fun thought, is it?
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These young phenoms can emerge in the men’s game with a level of confidence, footballing acumen and application well beyond their years and still be dragged through the mud because their personalities are not deemed to match their playing style. It's ridiculously disingenuous to expect those with footballing intelligence to also speak as if they are a part of MENSA.

This is a big part of the reason why footballers aren’t as expressive in the media as other athletes. If you present a genuine version of yourself, like Palmer did, you run the risk of being labelled boring and uncharismatic just for being yourself. Yet if you appear polished and media-trained to circumvent that, you’ll be branded as inauthentic. 

They’re almost damned if they do and damned if they don’t - creating a vicious cycle which has eroded English media’s relationship with footballers. And comments like ones underneath Palmer’s interview only seek to reinforce those problematic and outdated viewpoints.

Yet just a week later, speaking to Monday Night Football after his player of the match performance against Newcastle, Palmer spoke with the maturity and poise of a seasoned manager - let alone a player in his first proper season of first-team football. 

In breaking down his goal in close detail, showing perspective about his expectations with the England team and expressing his belief in the bigger picture at Chelsea beyond this season, Palmer showed exactly the level of intelligence that countless people accused him of not having only days earlier.

It’s almost as if we shouldn’t judge young players for who they are off the pitch before they have a chance to properly show us.

@AhmedShooble