Chelsea’s academy gem: What’s next for Conor Gallagher?

The good and the bad

Chelsea has lacked a true box-to-box midfielder since the departure of Lampard, or at least one who is as efficient inside the box as him. Mason Mount was expected to be Lampard’s successor in that regard, but his more advanced role in Thomas Tuchel’s system means that the responsibilities on his shoulders are different. Gallagher fits that profile better than Mount. The 21-year-old plays deeper, often in a midfield pivot or a three. He is tenacious, creative, dynamic, but most importantly, he has mastered the Lampardian craft of arriving in the box just at the right moment. His eight goals in senior football often mirror those scored by the Chelsea legend.

The first word that springs to mind watching Gallagher is energy—a key characteristic of any good box-to-box midfielder. Although the football West Brom played was quite passive—the team built around a strong defensive core rather than attacking principles—Gallagher stood out due to his active, aggressive play style. While at the Hawthorns, the youngster was a pressing machine. His 25.21 pressures per 90 ranked him among the top four percent of his positional peers over the last 365 days across the top five leagues, fbref reveals. Smarterscout rated his defending intensity 98/99 and his ability to disrupt opposition moves 76/99, painting him as one of the most active midfielders in the league defensively.

However, Gallagher can often be too aggressive in his approach. He is not as skilled as some of his counterparts in winning the ball back cleanly; 43 fouls and 11 bookings last term testament to the fact. Nevertheless, the youngster is equally adept at winning fouls, he was fouled 63 times by opponents in the league last season per fbref.

Apart from being an aggressive presser, Gallagher is also a good ball carrier. Smarterscout rates his carry and dribble volume 93/99, indicating that the youngster likes to move with the ball frequently. While Gallagher’s overall ball-carrying numbers are quite low—probably something to do with how little of the ball West Brom saw per game—he did record 0.32 carries into the penalty area per 90 over the last year, which ranked him in the 84th percentile.

Chelsea currently lacks a dynamic runner with the ball from deep who can take it all the way into the box and then do something with it. While both Mateo Kovacic and N’Golo Kante are capable of bringing the ball up field, they lack the final product. Luckily, that is something Gallagher possesses. The youngster recorded two goals and two assists in 30 matches at West Brom, which makes up 10 percent of the total goals the team scored in the league. Nonetheless, he will need to improve his numbers if he wants to play that role for Chelsea.