6 hours ago
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It is nearly 11am at Reggae Beach Bar and Grill, where staff are busy setting up for the lunchtime trade - sweeping floors and erecting umbrellas along the sand. All while a low hum drifts in from the waters of Cockleshell Bay.
In the distance, around half a dozen jet skis skip along the horizon. Temperatures are approaching 30 degrees but Cole Palmer is out on the water for around an hour before he takes a final spin and floats slowly into shore.
His mum, Marie, abandoned the water sports after a few minutes; other riders were unseated into the sea. But Palmer is no stranger to jet skiing. It is about the only time in recent days that he hasn’t found himself in uncharted waters.
For the first time in decades, the Palmer family have returned to their ancestral home of St Kitts, the Caribbean island 4,000 miles from the Manchester suburb where the Chelsea and England star grew up. And Mail Sport have secured behind-the-scenes access to an extraordinary three-day ceremony to mark the first visit of a global icon to the land that his grandfather left 60 years ago as a small boy with his parents, in search of a better life.
For 72 hours, the 23-year-old is treated even more like royalty than he is on the pitch at Stamford Bridge. There is a reception with the prime minister, a session with local footballers, a chance to ride the waves and visit his grandfather’s childhood home. ‘It’s mad,’ Palmer says. Everywhere he goes, he is mobbed.
On Sunday, he experienced a first Club World Cup final, scoring twice in Chelsea’s 3-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain. That same night, he had a first chat with Donald Trump, who later joined in the celebrations and handed Palmer his player of the tournament award. ‘When he gave me the award, he said his son is my biggest fan,’ Palmer reveals to Mail Sport. ‘I can't remember what I said. I think I said “Thank you” or something.’
Chelsea and England star Cole Palmer was given a hero's welcome on his arrival to the island
Palmer, his dad (furthest left) and grandad (furthest right) met with the prime minister Terrance Drew (second left), who gifted him a St Kitts national team jersey
Palmer turned his hand to jet skiing off the coast of St Kitts, where his paternal grandfather was born before moving to the UK as a six-year-old
Donald Trump joined in the celebrations after Chelsea beat Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday
And now he is enjoying a first trip to St Kitts. His family are here, too. Including his paternal grandfather, Sterry, who was born and spent his early childhood on the island.
‘It’s important to come back to where your family is from,’ Palmer says. ‘It’s nice to see how they grew up and their culture compared to ours… we were in America (for the Club World Cup) and it's close. So we thought we'd just come over and see everything.’
Sterry was just six when in 1960 he boarded a boat to Southampton. Two weeks later, he was reunited with his parents, who had left five years earlier to help rebuild post-war Britain as part of the Windrush Generation.
His mother, Estelle, died before seeing her great grandson play football. But? ‘My mom always said to my sister and my younger brothers that he's going to do something special,’ Sterry recalls. ‘I don't know what she saw. But she predicted that.’ And she was right.
Palmer's grandfather settled in Manchester and now, more than six decades on, three generations of the family are back in St Kitts. ‘A dream come true,’ says Sterry, who is home for the first time since 2002.
‘It’s a nice feeling,’ Palmer says. ‘Everything's been good but going to the local football and seeing all the little kids – that was probably the best.’ The St Kitts and Nevis FA – led by a cousin of Micah Richards - once tried to recruit him to ‘The Sugar Boyz’, who sit 151st in FIFA's world rankings.
This week, they watched Palmer play here at last. ‘We just had a little kickabout, messed about, signed some shirts and took some pictures,’ the Chelsea star says.
Those family members left behind are said to be very jealous. So it won’t be another sixty years before this lot are back. Terrance Drew, the prime minister of St Kitts and Nevis, christened Palmer a ‘son of the soil’ and the Chelsea star feels he belongs here.
Palmer mets fans on the beach in St Kitts, and they replicated his 'Cold Palmer' celebration
President Trump presented Palmer with his player of the tournament trophy after the win and then stayed for the trophy lift
Palmer was mobbed by young footballers during his visit to an academy in St Kitts this week
Palmer sat down with Mail Sport's Daniel Matthews in the island paradise to discuss his visit
No matter that he didn’t grow up on grandad’s stories of life back home. ‘He hasn’t told me much… he was only little,’ Palmer says before joking: ‘He’s trying to remember the places but I don’t think he can.’
The 23-year-old has long been curious about his roots; he already carries the flags of St Kitts and St George on his boots. On Sundays, the family often sat down to eat Caribbean food; his father and grandfather got him into dance hall music. Palmer once went viral after rapping to the music of Jamaican artist Vybz Kartel on TikTok.
And, since landing in the Caribbean, it hasn’t taken him long to become a fan of the local lifestyle, too. ‘It’s so chilled and quiet and relaxing,’ he says. A few minutes earlier, Palmer had pulled on a T-shirt that sums up life on 'island time' rather neatly. ‘Rush slowly’, it reads. Palmer reckons it’s a good fit. On the pitch, though, he continues to race towards superstardom.
It had been a brutally long season and there were times when Palmer’s influence threatened to wane. But then at MetLife Stadium, the site of next year’s World Cup final, he demolished PSG with a first-half masterclass that included two goals and an assist.
Before long, Trump planted himself in the trophy lift and Palmer appeared to ask: ‘What is he doing?’ His image had lit up Times Square ahead of the final and soon Palmer’s confused face was beamed across the world. Penny for the thoughts of Barron Trump, the president’s 19-year-old son who loves football and – it seems – Chelsea's No 10 in particular.
So how does becoming world champion compare to everything Palmer has achieved in his career? 'It's up there,' the 23-year-old says. ‘Especially with the performance… and what everyone expected.’
Luis Enrique’s young PSG team had won the Champions League and then battered Real Madrid 4-0 to reach Sunday’s final. But they were dismantled by Chelsea and, amid all the circus, it would be easy to overlook how pivotal that could be for Enzo Maresca’s side.
‘We had a little kickabout, messed about, signed some shirts and took some pictures,' he said
Palmer and his father, Jermaine, who spent every evening training with him in the local park
Palmer and his family checked out the footage of their jet skiing exploits one afternoon
‘Big, I think,’ Palmer says. ‘We just played the best team in the world. So to go into next season, it should give us a good confidence (boost).’
But that can wait for now - the Chelsea squad are enjoying the start of three weeks off. Palmer is looking forward to being reunited with his girlfriend, Connie Grace, but first he wanted to visit St Kitts, where they know how to celebrate their heroes.
Kim Collins, who won world 100m gold in 2003, has a mural inside the airport and a highway named in his honour. A sign nearby, meanwhile celebrates the Louis brothers, Mikyle and Jeremiah, who recently became the first Kittitians to be picked by the West Indies cricket team.
Palmer has already built a cult following, too. No matter that St Kitts and Nevis sit 151st in the FIFA rankings. Even in Reggae Beach Bar and Grill, there is a nod to this island’s Chelsea star. It’s a small blue plaque that reads ‘The Shed End', in homage to the iconic Stamford Bridge stand. Palmer’s family wrote a small message beneath it and, shortly before leaving for his next function, the No 10 scribbles his signature, too.
Moments later, the heavens open and St Kitts is doused in a bit of Wythenshawe weather. Here though, unlike on the Manchester council estate where Palmer was made, the rain is only fleeting. And soon the England star sits down with Mail Sport down the road, on the Southeast Peninsula of St Kitts.
Steel drums are playing downstairs, the sister island of Nevis is visible across the water, and it’s about a 20-minute drive up to the capital, Basseterre - over the rolling hills and past another beach bar, Shipwreck, where monkeys pop down for lunch and dinner. On this island, which is 23 miles long and – at its widest – just five miles across, the monkeys are estimated to outnumber people 60,000 to 47,000.
Sterry lived here for a few years and, on Tuesday afternoon, the family paid a visit to his childhood home. ‘We weren’t allowed to go in,’ Palmer explains. The stone building, which Sterry shared with his aunties and uncle and grandmother, has nearly been swallowed by vegetation.
Palmer and his family posed outside the childhood home of his paternal grandfather, Sterry
Sterry lived in St Kitts until he boarded a boat and emigrated to England at the age of six
Palmer signed the wall at the Reggae Beach Bar and Grill where there is a Shed End plaque in homage to Stamford Bridge's famous stand
St. Kitts is vibrant but uncrowded with stunning mountain and ocean views. For more information about St. Kitts, go to www.visitstkitts.com.
‘It was mad,’ Palmer says. ‘It's not really a house anymore, because obviously it's been so long. But it was nice to see the road and what he used to do.’ The family went for a meal nearby. On the menu? Jerk wings and another chance to reflect on how far this family have come.
‘It's unbelievable,’ Palmer’s grandfather says. ‘Where he is now, 60 years later... 60 years later I come back with my sons and grandkids? You couldn’t write it.’
Sterry used to play cricket on St Kitts but his first love never made down the family tree. ‘No, no, no,’ Palmer says with a smile when asked if he has ever played or watched the sport.
His grandfather didn’t kick a football before moving to England. He later lived near Maine Road - the old home of Manchester City - and according to Palmer’s uncle, Colin, he was good enough to play for United. Years later, Sterry first saw his grandson play when he was training with City aged seven.
It was clear 'he could be something special’. By then, Palmer and his dad were spending every night at the local park. The Chelsea star has described his father as ‘Pep (Guardiola) before I met Pep.’ Only Jermaine’s philosophy was rather simpler.
‘When he was just learning, Ronaldinho was the main guy,' Palmer’s father says. 'And he was only little, so (my message was): protect the ball, just have fun, play with your head up, involve your teammates… play with a smile on your face, and there's no point doing a trick and standing still. A trick has to go somewhere.’
Jermaine was a workhorse who ended up at centre back for his pub team. His son grew up idolizing Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney but Palmer was never one to study others too hard.
‘He doesn't really watch tele, and he doesn't really sit still long enough… he might watch a few clips here and there, but nothing of any length,’ his dad explains.
‘(When) he trained with City, it was dead regimented – you’d have to play in a certain position, pass it the way they wanted. So then at night, we used to just go to the park and play with all the local kids. And because he was good, he used to just run (them) ragged and learn all his skills there.’
Following their victory over PSG, Palmer and Tosin Adarabioyo cut the net from one of the goals
The Palmer family was presented with indigenous art by the Kittitian prime minister on arrival
Palmer made a huge splash in the Club World Cup and now is ready to use it as a springboard to bigger and better things this season for Chelsea and England
Since turning professional, Palmer’s focus has been repaying his dad for all those hours of graft. ‘He repaid me straight away with just what he's doing… just the joy,’ Jermaine says. '(But) it does seem that when you don't think it can keep getting better and better, it just keeps going.’
Palmer spent 13 years at Manchester City before joining Chelsea in 2023 for £42.5million. He quickly cemented himself as the heartbeat of a young side and over the last year a bromance has blossomed between Palmer and another Manchester lad, centre back Tosin Adarabioyo.
‘We know the same people and he’s just similar to me,’ Palmer says. ‘So we’ve got on really well ever since he's been at Chelsea. And now you can't separate us.’
That reminds Palmer. After beating PSG, they cut the net out of one goal. But Adarabioyo took it. ‘He needs to give me a bit of it. I need to ring him actually.’
He has no grand plans for the memento. ‘I’ll probably just put it on the side,’ Palmer says. Next to the St Kitts shirt and indigenous art he was given by the prime minister, perhaps. His grandfather always had ‘reminders’ of the Caribbean in his Manchester home, after all.
But that's a worry for another day. It’s lunchtime and the Palmer family are being treated to a buffet at Spice Mill. The restaurant is full of men in football shirts – Chelsea, Haiti, Newtown United. They all wait and watch as Palmer helps himself. It’s a hefty spread that includes jerk pork, curried mutton and coconut dumplings. It's just like a Sunday back home.
