It’s one thing to strip a player of his shirt number, and hand it to one of his teammates. That sends a message to be sure. It’s quite another to issue an official statement on this number switch, and mention only the player who will be wearing the number now, and not who used to wear it. However, this is exactly what happened today with Chelsea FC, Cole Palmer and Mykhailo Mudryk.
The club statement mentions Palmer, and leaves out Mudryk entirely.
The statement reads in full:
Chelsea can confirm Cole Palmer will move to the No.10 shirt ahead of our 2025/26 campaign, starting from the FIFA Club World Cup.
Palmer, who has worn the No.20 shirt since signing from Manchester City in September 2023, will make the switch ahead of our participation in the US-based tournament and could wear 10 for the first time when the Blues face Los Angeles FC in Atlanta on June 16.
Supporters are reminded that the full list of squad numbers for the 2025/26 season will be finalised once the summer transfer window has shut.
They remain subject to change until that point.
Chelsea FC FIFA Club World Cup FYIs
How They Qualified: Winners of the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League
Chelsea FC Club World Cup Preview: go here
Group D Matches:
June 16, 3pm EST, LAFC, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA
June 20, 2pm EST, Flamengo, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
June 24, 9pm EST, ES Tunis, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
Mudryk has not featured for the club since November, after he tested positive for the banned substance meldonium. He has been serving a suspension for all of 2025 thus far, and that obviously puts the future of the Ukrainian winger in strong doubt.
However, Chelsea will not easily give up on the forward that they brought over for a whopping £89m from Shakhtar Donetsk in January of 2023.
According to the Daily Mail, Mudryk “is expected to be assigned a new shirt number ahead of the start of next season.”
As for Palmer, this move is just further confirmation that he’s the face of the club, the Chelsea talisman, if you will. You already knew that, but this is just more re-affirmation.
2025 FIFA Club World Cup Previews
Manchester City Atletico Madrid Paris Saint-Germain Bayern Munich Real Madrid Inter Miami Chelsea FC
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter