‘Nice kid’- ‘great player,’ Versatile Chelsea youngster tipped to bench Mateo Kovacic next season
Conor Gallagher has been described as a “special” talent by Joe Cole, who believes the youngster has a bright future at Chelsea.
Gallagher, 21, was looking for another loan at the start of the summer after spending last season with West Brom, and he eventually signed a season-long deal with Crystal Palace in July.
The midfielder has since earned rave reviews for his performances under Patrick Vieira, racking up four goals and two assists in the Premier League, and his meteoric rise continued on Monday night when he made his England debut against San Marino.
Gallagher, according to the ex-England winger, could even challenge Mateo Kovacic for a spot in Thomas Tuchel’s starting XI next season.
“He can play box-to-box, No.8, he can play with his back to goal, he could play as a No.10,” Cole told JOE.
“He’s better as a No.8/box-to-box and he could even play at Chelsea where Kovacic plays, but he would score more goals than [Mateo] Kovacic.
“Chelsea won’t sell him, Chelsea ain’t silly. Him and [Billy] Gilmour who is out on loan at Norwich. He’s probably gone above Billy because of what he’s done. He’s gone on loan and done it, he’s such a talent.
“He was at West Brom last year and he’s gone through the process. Chelsea have a process where they send the boys out on loan. Mason [Mount] went six months in Holland, a year at Derby and into the first-team.
“They can’t get Gallagher back until the end of the season, but he’ll be one for next season.
“Nice kid, great attitude, great player. He’s going to be a special player.”
Tuchel stated ahead of Chelsea’s match against Leicester that he has been impressed by Gallagher since ‘day one’ and would ‘love’ to have played alongside the England starlet.
“‘It’s too early to talk about it and way too early to talk about it in public and before we talk about it with Conor himself about what he wants, what his goals are,” the Chelsea head coach told reporters.
“This will happen in the summer because we all agreed to the decision that he wanted to join Crystal Palace and Patrick Vieira’s team. So he saw this possibility for him and we had talks before.
“I’m not surprised that the national coach loves him, because I loved him from day one.
“There cannot be a coach who does not love guys like this, humble, nice, a smile on their face, always ready to give everything, who wants to learn and wants to improve.
“Also as a teammate I would have loved to play with him, because he’s a helper. He starts in minute one and he finishes maybe in the shower, that’s the earliest minute where he finishes running and stealing balls. So it’s a pleasure to know the guy, to have the guy and I’m super happy it’s worked out so well.
“Now it’s on him to keep going, to keep his feet on the ground and the rest we will decide… not in a rush.”
Tuchel has no plans to recall Gallagher midway through his loan spell at Selhurst Park, despite his obvious admiration.
“Actually I have not thought about to bring him back earlier because I think it’s also important for him to be happy where he is and for him to stay in the moment and not change the next things,” Tuchel added.
“It’s important to be calm in his stage of the career.
“And I feel him happy there and I think everybody is happy and it’s good he has this kind of impact at Palace and now it’s about consistency.
“Now he had a game with the national team and you have to process all these things.
“Right now if you asked me today I don’t think it’s necessary to change everything for him again in the winter and I’m super happy that he does so well, I’m super happy for him personally because he’s a guy who absolutely deserves the very best because he’s a nice guy and a top player.”
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‘Nice kid’- ‘great player,’ Versatile Chelsea youngster tipped to bench Mateo Kovacic next season
