The celebration that turned Cole Palmer’s stone-faced shiver into one of the Premier League’s most imitated goal moments did not start with Cole Palmer.
It started with Morgan Rogers.
That much Palmer volunteered on Chelsea’s pre-season tour of Australia, where he was asked how he and his incoming teammate planned to share a gesture they both now perform.
His answer left little room for negotiation.
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“We’ve never spoke about it. It’s one of them. He does it. I do it.”
“I’ve trademarked it so if he tries to do anything, he’ll have the bailiffs at his door. Nah, we’ll do it together.”
The trademark is real
The joke has legal teeth. Palmer has registered the celebration with the UK Intellectual Property Office.
The registration does not stop fans copying the pose in the stands, opposition players performing it in front of the away end, or broadcasters showing it on television. What it does protect are the commercial rights, meaning the gesture cannot be sold, licensed or put on merchandise without Palmer’s permission.
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Rogers, in other words, is free to do the celebration in a Chelsea shirt. He is not free to build a business around it.
The most expensive British player ever
Rogers, 23, completed his move from Aston Villa for a fee of £117m, signing a seven-year contract with Chelsea.
The deal surpasses the £116m Manchester City paid Nottingham Forest for Elliot Anderson earlier in the same summer window.
“I’m so excited. For me, Chelsea are the biggest club in London and a club I’ve always admired,” Rogers said after the signing was confirmed.
He has yet to link up with Xabi Alonso’s squad on the pre-season tour, having been given extra time off after England’s 2026 World Cup campaign.
Reunited from the Manchester City academy
Palmer and Rogers grew up together at Manchester City’s academy before taking different routes into the Premier League, Rogers arriving via Middlesbrough and Aston Villa.
The pair, Palmer said, have never actually sat down to discuss who owns the celebration.
The first time they line up alongside each other at Stamford Bridge, arms folded and faces frozen, is now only a matter of who scores first.
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