Tottenham Hotspur are once more linked with a late swoop for England midfielder Conor Gallagher, this time in January.
Gallagher has been one of Chelsea’s best players this season, largely overshadowing the £215m midfield pair of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, but has been for sale in the last three transfer windows.
Gallagher, who has been at Cobham since he was eight, only has 18 months left on his contract and there appears to be no sign of agreement with the club on an extension.
Alongside this, any money raised through Gallagher’s sale would count as “pure profit” in Financial Fair Play (FFP) terms on Chelsea’s books, which could be important given i predicts they need to sell £100m worth of players to comply with Premier League regulations next season.
There are reportedly two obstacles in the way of Gallagher’s Spurs move – the player is happy at Chelsea and Tottenham would first need to sell Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
But Spurs are still expected to push for Gallagher’s signature and Chelsea are reportedly happy to let him go for the right price.
How would Conor Gallagher fit in at Spurs?
In a nutshell, well. One of the key tenets of Ange Postecoglou’s attacking brand of football is winning the ball high up the pitch, and there are few better at that than Gallagher.
Gallagher has won the third-most tackles in the midfield third and won possession more times in the final third than any other player in the Premier League this season.
In fact, Gallagher is sixth in the league for tackles and interceptions behind, one behind Spurs right-back Pedro Porro. Destiny Udogie and Yves Bissouma are 12th and 13th respectively.
This shows Gallagher fits Postecoglou’s proactive style off the ball – in fact Gallagher largely has a similar statistical profile to Bissouma.
Gallagher is also in the top 20 for touches in both the final and middle thirds of the pitch in the league, as well as among the top 30 players for total distance carrying the ball this season. He has completed the 23rd-most passes in the Premier League and has a take-on success percentage of 66.7 per cent, nearly seven per cent higher than Spurs’ most effective dribbler – Bissouma. Essentially, he has been doing a lot very well.
How could Spurs line up with Conor Gallagher?
Spurs’ current best midfield pair is Rodrigo Bentancur and Bissouma, but due to injury, these two have not started a game together this season. Both Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr, who had played in all but two of Spurs’ games in the first half of this season, are currently at Afcon, although Sarr’s Senegal were knocked out last night.
Injury crises across the pitch have left Spurs short on quality and quantity at points this season and Gallagher would provide both a week-in, week-out starting option and much-needed squad depth.
Gallagher would provide a rotation option for the fit-again James Maddison in attacking midfield, although they are very different players. Maddison is at his best on the ball, Gallagher off it.
Although Bentancur would probably be his most natural partner in central midfield, Gallagher is versatile enough to work well with both Bissouma and Sarr, giving Tottenham one of the Premier League’s strongest midfield units if he signed. Gallagher is at his best in more advanced midfield positions as he struggles when receiving the ball facing goal, so working alongside someone more deep-lying, like Bentancur, would be ideal.
There are two obvious ways in which Tottenham could use Gallagher. The first is in a pairing with Bentancur, allowing the attacking axis of Kulusevski-Maddison-Son-Richarlison to continue undisturbed when all are available.
The second is in the No 10 position, pushing Maddison out to the left and allowing Heung-min Son to play as a lone striker. This could also function as a midfield three, alongside Bentancur and Bissouma, with Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski on either wing.
It is also possible that Gallagher would not instantly break into what is an established Spurs starting XI when all players are available. While it’s not a role he would relish, he has all the requisite qualities to be an effective super-sub in this Postecoglou side.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/wlG2vIW
Post a Comment