Because of the number of former loan players who were being integrated into the first team after the transfer ban, the loan army was rather smaller than usual this year.
We probably weren’t expecting too many breakout seasons, with Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham and the like all back with the senior squad now.
But Conor Gallagher broke the mould with a really impressive spell at Charlton and then Swansea, and on Sky Sports today they have a full discussion about his potential between Andy Hinchliffe and Keith Andrews, who think he can go right to the top.
Hinchliffe even went as far as suggesting he should be looking at Kevin de Bruyne, perhaps the league’s best midfielder, for inspiration:
“If you look at the development in Kevin De Bruyne’s game, how dynamic he is now… He’s developed his game. If I was Gallagher, I would be looking at De Bruyne saying if I could model my game on that then I would not be far off being a top professional,” the former England player commented.
That may be a bit of a stretch in terms of style, and it seems unlikely Conor will develop that kind of world class passing and crossing technique in his 20s – but there’s no doubt there’s tons he can learn tactically and positionally from the Man City genius.
