Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher was the only player to go the full 90 against Bournemouth. By the end, the minutes were starting to show, but overall he had put in an energetic and solid performance. Him being the only player to go the distance also shows that there is something in him that Thomas Tuchel sees that he doesn’t in others.
But while solid, the performance showed that Gallagher wasn’t the finished product yet. While he’s full of energy off the ball, on the ball he still needs refinement. Furthermore, as time went on, his tackles got more and more sloppy. If he is the deputize N’Golo Kante eventually, he needs playing time to clean those traits up.
It seems like that will be elsewhere. Conor Gallagher is set for a loan to the rebuilt, new look Crystal Palace. It makes some sense for Chelsea but also creates more questions.
Part of his loan is how surprisingly competitive the battle for that fourth centermid spot looks. N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic, and Jorginho have three of those likely four spots locked up. Before preseason, Gallagher seemed to make the most sense because he was most similar to Kante (the profile missing), but in the Bournemouth match players like Danny Drinkwater and Lewis Baker did fantastically while there is always the notion that Ruben Loftus-Cheek might return. This isn’t to say that any of those players are currently better than Gallagher, but if one had to go on loan and get more minutes, you’d want it to be the youngest one with the biggest upside remaining.
The real crux of the issue might be whether or not this means a transfer is in the pipeline. No offense to Drinkwater or Baker, but it would be incredibly surprising to see Chelsea loan Billy Gilmour and then Gallagher to keep either player for a season. Loftus-Cheek, while great before his injury, still looks like he needs more minutes to find his groove than the Blues can offer. That quickly narrows things down to a new signing.
Declan Rice has been the most linked for the past year. West Ham is getting more and more nervous each time he rejects a new contract. The price tag, which started at 100 million, is dropping more and more and could possibly be as low as 60 million now. The issue with that deal, at the moment, is time. The Blues have nearly a month left in the window but to pull off a transfer like that with a rival will take more time than is likely remaining.
Aurelien Tchouameni is seen as another option and the only other option. Seen by many as the next N’Golo Kante, he wouldn’t be ready made to fill those shoes but he’d be on his way. He shares and agent with Jules Kounde which, if Chelsea are making that deal happen, should grease the wheel. The concern with Tchouameni, however, is that he may be another Tiemoue Bakayoko. Obviously talented this past season, this past season is also the only season he’s featured more than 20 times (and, in fairness, he doubled that number). Clubs should always be weary of one season wonders and that might be why few are in for him.
Regardless, Chelsea loaning Gallagher could be good for the player. It just leaves the same questions about who is the last midfielder and the club seems no closer to an answer.