Conor Gallagher got his first senior England call ups at the end of last season after a super impressive campaign starring on loan for Crystal Palace.
Coming back to Chelsea seemed like a good way to continue his progress and force his way further into Gareth Southgate’s plans.
But the latest England squad has Conor returning to the under 21s. The immediate reaction online has been “told you so – he’s gone back to Chelsea, isn’t playing enough, and has been dropped.”
But that’s just not true. Gallagher has played 3 starts in the Premier League out of 6 games, he came on as a sub in two others and was suspended for the 6th.
That’s in line with what he would have hoped for, let alone expected, and it’s certainly not a string of benching.
The problem is not a lack of minutes, it’s a lack of starring role. Partly the team has just been playing badly, but it’s more than he’s now a small fish in a big pond, and it’s hard to stand out as a star player as he did at Selhurst Park.
So exactly how many minutes? A handful only, should have gone back to Palace where truly appreciated and loved
Don’t buy it. One match, he played one minute of injury time. They don’t plan to use him and are just stringing him along. He is already on the trade block for January. Chelsea is just trying to maximize his monetary value.
Couldn’t agree more. Played out of position when he does get a chance too. Tuchel simply didn’t want a player of his calibre plying his trade somewhere else when he may have occasionally been of use to Chelsea. I can see why, he’s the manager (was) and had to do what was in the best interests of Chelsea but it’s tough on the lad for sure
The problem is his value is decreasing, not increasing.