In another of our series of new player profiles, here's Alex Pewter with what to expect of Conor Gallagher.
(Image taken from Crystal Palace interview, here.)
Background
Crystal Palace made a mistake last season. Conor Gallagher was reportedly set to move from Cobham to Beckenham on loan when the club decided to switch their focus to former-loan signing Michy Batshuayi.
Wilfried Zaha's switch to a central role in the first half of the season, followed by a Benteke redemption arc in the second half, left Michy with only 700 minutes of game time across the season. Meanwhile, in a struggling West Bromwich Albion side, Gallagher raised his profile as a Premier League player.
Born only 20 minutes from his eventual training ground, Gallagher has been a Chelsea player since he was eight years old. Capped by England from U17 to U21 levels, he was part of the U17 World Cup-winning team under his future manager, Steve Cooper, alongside Marc Guéhi and Nya Kirby. Having only a season of U23 football to his name the year prior, Gallagher jumped straight into Championship football with two loan moves in the 2019-20 season, splitting time at Charlton Athletic and Swansea City.
Deployed as more of a deep-lying midfielder for Charlton and as an attacking midfielder for Swansea, Gallagher made 44 starts with the headline stats of six goals and eight assists to his name. In the following season, Gallagher jumped into Premier League football, making 28 starts and scoring one of his two goals against Palace at The Hawthorns in the 5-1 rout.
Playing Style
Having looked on paper as more of a creative force at Charlton and Swansea in the Championship, Gallagher's time at West Brom was a box-to-box midfielder. In a team that arguably spent most of the season outmatched, he competed to the physical levels required in a top-five league in Europe. He pressed the opposition at a very high rate in this role, ending with the 14th most successful pressures in the league, where his team recovered the ball within five seconds. His final total of 180 put him on par with box-to-box threats such as Bissouma of Brighton and Ndidi & Tielemans of Leicester.
When Gallagher recovers possession or receives a pass under pressure, he shows the agility to shift away from his opposition to retain the ball. When he has more freedom to drive forward, like at Swansea, he becomes more of a rounded attacking threat, getting into the opposition box late or playing more expansive passes. In a team where Wilfried Zaha naturally draws the most attention, potentially Gallagher will have more opportunity to progress the ball forward.
Outlook
The return to last season's "Plan A" loan is possibly more of a fit for Patrick Vieira than under Roy Hodgson. Given the likely need for two "number 8" type midfielders playing in a 4-3-3 formation, akin to what was used by Vieira at OG Nice, Gallagher is an immediate upgrade. Setting out a game plan for a higher press, displayed in pre-season thus far, a player with the stamina to carry this out will be ideal.
It is expected that Vieria will aim to work the ball out from the back in the long term, reinforced by the high-profile signing of Joachim Andersen. Alongside players like Jaïro Riedewald and Jeffrey Schlupp, Gallagher gives the club another player at ease taking the ball under pressure in the middle of the pitch, with the ability to carry the ball or pass it out of danger.
This loan, currently without the option to buy, is adding to the young core Palace is starting to put in place. Ignoring the current injuries to Eze and Olise, those two players, Mitchell, Guéhi, and Gallagher, form a young base that the club could look to build around in the medium-term. Whereas the asking price and salary for Ruben Loftus-Cheek were always out of reach, Gallagher could be available at a more reasonable price in the future.