I've followed Cole Palmer's career - he could be the next Kevin De Bruyne for Chelsea

Chelsea legend Pat Nevin has explained why Cole Palmer is showing signs he could follow in the footsteps of Kevin De Bruyne.

The Blues signed Palmer from Manchester City last summer in a deal worth £42.5 million and he has since gone on to be one of the stars of Mauricio Pochettino's team. Palmer has scored 25 goals with 13 assists in all competitions this season for Chelsea, including seven goals in his last two appearances at Stamford Bridge alone.

Palmer's form this season has seen him mentioned as a contender for the Premier League's signing of the season. After scoring a hat-trick against Everton on Monday night, the playmaker has gone level with former Man City teammate Erling Haaland at the top scorer's list in the top flight with 20 goals this term.

Nevin has gone on to compare Palmer's style of play to that of De Bruyne, who got his first taste of English football with Chelsea before his departure in 2014. De Bruyne made just nine appearances for the Blues in his career, and Nevin has explained why the early stages of Palmer's career are showing signs he could emulate the Man City star.

"I'm not surprised that Cole Palmer is this good, I'm just surprised he's this good this quickly," Nevin told Grosvenor Casinos. "When he was at Manchester City I covered a few of his first games and I remember I almost shocked myself by saying that this guy could be the next Kevin De Bruyne.

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"Just looking at him technically, as a player, he's got everything. But that's not the thing. The thing was that his teammates kept giving him the ball.

"He was playing for Manchester City coming off the bench and they were feeding him the ball, they were giving him the ball all the time. They'll know if somebody's not up to their standard from training.

"If they know you’re good enough it doesn't matter if you're aged 15 or 45 they'll give you the ball. I thought Chelsea won the biggest watch imaginable by getting him. But I didn’t think he would be this good this quick. That would be too much to ask for."

Nevin added: "You have a look back at the likes of Kevin De Bruyne when he was at Cole Palmer’s age, was he as good? Was he at the top level in the Premier League scoring 20 goals?

"I'm not saying he's going to be a better player than Kevin De Bruyne - but he's got what it takes. He's absolutely got what it takes to be one of the very best in the business.

"Whether that's going to continue [at] Chelsea all his career we don’t know, certainly it's the perfect place for him now. Some people crumble under that pressure and some people just flower - he's the latter."