High praise from Keane.

Cole Palmer has responded to Roy Keane’s rather flattering analysis of his performance off the bench in England’s 0-0 draw with Slovenia at Euro 2024.

England saw themselves top Group C with a point in their final match, but it was the same lack of attacking threat that has left fans extremely concerned ahead of the knockout stages.

Gareth Southgate’s men were again guilty of playing almost exclusively sideways and backward, but the late introductions of Cole Palmer and Anthony Gordon left fans will some hope.

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Palmer in particular made an impressive impact in the 20 minutes he was on the field, linking up well in the attacking third and looking a real threat.

Following the game, former Ireland international Roy Keane heaped a lot of praise on the 21-year-old and believes he could be the key to England turning around their fortunes.

“He’s so unpredictable, he can beat a man, go left or right. A lot of brilliant players affect the game, when he came on, you knew he was going to affect the game,” Keane said on ITV.

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“Every time he got it, we were looking at him. I’m hard to impress and I’m thinking ‘something is going to happen’. Every time he gets the ball you think something is going to happen…

“He will think he should be in that starting XI. He won’t think ‘I’m learning and I’m glad to be here’. He will be looking at Gareth, like the big personalities do, thinking ‘get me out there’,” Keane added.

Cole Palmer- Getty

The Chelsea star was then made aware of Keane’s comments at full time and made and was clearly a tad chuffed with himself.

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“Yeah you know it’s always nice to hear, especially coming from someone like Roy Keane who played internationally and at Man United so it’s nice to hear,” Palmer explained.

Palmer also reacted to the possibility of now coming into the starting 11 for England’s round of 16 tie on Sunday saying, “But obviously it’s up to the manager now for what he wants to do.”