Why Southgate and Potter love Conor Gallagher | OneFootball

Conor Gallagher always knew this season was going to be a difficult one, as he looked to improve his standing from talented young loan player last season to first team player at Chelsea.

He’s not quite there yet, and his role is more as first reserve of the bench in recent games, but that’s more a reflection of the talent he’s competing with than anything else. He’s also started getting regular minutes for England, and bit by bit he’s establishing himself for club and country.

Pat Nevin’s column this week on the Chelsea website has a great section on the midfielder which outlines exactly why both Graham Potter and Gareth Southgate are such big fans of the academy product.

“It is pretty clear why Gareth Southgate is as keen on him as Graham Potter is, the work rate and selflessness are off the scale. If you need someone to cover ground, go from box to box, make tackles, be a threat in the opposition box one minute and making superb defensive blocks in his own area the next, then Conor is your man.

Conor is a very good technical player. To be fair, there are others who are better, but his attitude allows him to cruise by them when squads are announced, simply because of the energy and willingness to give every bit of it every time he plays. Scotland have a player like that in John McGinn, who we will see at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening with his Aston Villa team mates.

Conor rarely if ever seems to tire, oh yes and he can score the odd goal for us too, the last-minute winner against Palace will be one he will never forget!”

While he will one day want to be a first team starter every week, for now Gallagher must be very pleased with the way he’s made steady progress for club and country in the last 12 months.