Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher has had a brilliant season on loan at Crystal Palace so far, and when he added two more goals to his tally this weekend against Everton, he really set tongues wagging.
Chelsea fans can’t wait to get him back to the club in the summer to strengthen a central midfield that has been crippled by injuries for months now, but on TalkSport, former Premier League and England boss Sam Allardyce had some stark warnings for Gallagher about his future.
In quotes picked up by Caughtoffside, “Big Sam” pointed to another English player who had done well on loan last season in the Premier League, only to see their playing time evaporate when they returned to their parent club.
“I’d want to come back and give it a go (at Chelsea) and I think on his form at the moment and you have to bear in mind now he made his England debut, he’s an England international,” Allardyce said.
“He would want to go back and try and get in the team but I think if you do that, you’ve got to play enough first team games because if you don’t you can easily fall backwards like Jesse Lingard.
“Staying at Man United I think has been a bad choice for him because he’s not been selected.
“While at West Ham he was one of the best goalscoring midfield players in the Premier League in his time there now he’s sitting on the bench at Man United.
“So you have to be very careful on your choices at the right time and if you’re playing as much football as Conor’s playing now, and enjoying it more than ever with Palace then you want to continue that.
“If that’s not at Chelsea it can certainly be somewhere else in the Premier League I’m sure.”
It’s a very reasonable warning, especially considering our injury crisis won’t last forever, and there will actually be serious competition for minutes next season.
But if Conor keeps playing like this, nobody would be able to keep him out of the team.
