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Cole Palmer has been spotted taking pictures with fans while out in Dubai as the Chelsea star continues his recovery from a groin problem.
The England attacker is expected to remain unavailable until at least next month. The injury has plagued the 23-year-old since the start of the 2025/26 campaign, as he has only played 140 minutes since September.
Back in August, he was a late withdrawal from the starting XI to face West Ham United with a further two weeks spent on the sidelines before he returned to action and scored off the bench against Brentford last month.
Just seven days later, he was forced off early into the defeat at Manchester United and he has remained absent for the following four games. Enzo Maresca ruled him out of this past weekend's win over Liverpool without hesitation and his honest update suggests he could still be unavailable after the October international break.
"Cole is still out," he admitted last Friday. "I don't have any updates at the moment. We have a meeting this week to see how he is, and we will then decide [whether he can return after the international break]."
While many of his Chelsea team-mates have been on their travels over the last few days on international duty, Palmer has also seemingly departed west London recently.
A number of pictures of the Chelsea talisman with fans out in Dubai have emerged on social media.
It is unclear why Palmer has travelled out to the Middle East, though theories have emerged that he was perhaps out seeing a specialist. Alternatively, he could have been given a few days off after spending a number of weeks unable to train at Cobham.
According to the Daily Mail, while Palmer will be missing for weeks, not months, a return in November has become the expectation. Another two-week domestic pause is on the calendar for that month with it highly unlikely Palmer is allowed to depart Chelsea and make the trip up to St George's Park in November.
Palmer is yet to be called up to a Three Lions squad this season and that looks set to continue for the remainder of 2025.
Given his impact over recent years, Chelsea will be keen to have Palmer back available as soon as possible but not at the risk of causing long-term damage.
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Despite the fact he did not play in the win over Liverpool, though, Palmer was heavily involved in the celebrations of their last-gasp victory over the Premier League champions.
After celebrating with match-winner Estevao Willian, Jorrel Hato jumped into Palmer excitedly, which resulted in the latter immediately feeling his groin.
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