Chelsea Holding ‘Planning Talks’ With Player Described As “Amazing” By Frank Lampard
According to the Daily Mail, Chelsea are “planning talks” with midfielder Conor Gallagher about his long-term future at the club.
The 23-year-old has 21 months left on his contract, but there have been no negotiations regarding extending his stay at Stamford Bridge until now.
Chelsea has made it club policy that no player should reach the end of their current contract, thus a huge choice must be taken on whether to keep Gallagher or sell him.
Mauricio Pochettino, the manager, is clearly a huge supporter of the England international, having started him in every league encounter this season.
The club’s hierarchy are also believed to be happy with Gallagher’s contributions, following his strong start to the campaign, although they have reportedly been open to offloading the player until recently.
Gallagher has being courted by two Premier League opponents.
West Ham had a £40m bid rejected for the midfielder back in July, while Tottenham made a concerted effort to sign him just before the summer transfer window closed.
It’s hard to believe that either team would have made formal approaches for Gallagher if they hadn’t been told that he was available for transfer. Ultimately, though, he stayed at Chelsea, and he has managed to establish himself in the first team.
A Chelsea great admires the player
Frank Lampard, who worked with Gallagher as caretaker manager for the second part of last season, has praised the player’s work ethic:
“He is an amazing character and big talent scoring goals from midfield. As a manager, you see things that those on the outside of the club don’t and when you talk about players wanting to train at a level every day, sometimes you pick a team and people say why do you keep playing Conor Gallagher?”
“Because of his desire to play for the club, the desire to raise standards and train hard. When I went back to the club he trained every day like he really wanted to show something. Being part-time captain gives him a chance to really kick on with his Chelsea career.”
If Gallagher is awarded a new deal, he will be able to do precisely that. We’ll see how things evolve as the conversations continue in the next weeks and months.
