LONDON — At Chelsea since the age of eight, Conor Gallagher is living his dream as he captains Chelsea in the Premier League.
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Recce James, another Chelsea academy product, is the Chelsea skipper for this season but since James and vice-captain Ben Chilwell have been out with injury, Gallagher has taken the armband in recent weeks.
That has coincided with Chelsea improving massively as Gallagher’s all-action displays in midfield alongside Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez (who between them cost a cool $270 million in transfer fees alone over the last two transfer windows) has been a big factor behind Mauricio Pochettino’s side climbing up the table.
Speaking to Pro Soccer Talk following Chelsea’s impressive performance against Arsenal — the disappointment in drawing 2-2 after they led 2-0 late on shows how far they’ve come — Gallagher smiled when asked about his role in this team and about being the skipper of his boyhood club.
“It is really important to have that fighting spirit as well and I think I try to bring that to the team,” Gallagher said. “I always work as hard as I can and I try and rub that off on the other players as well. You could see that because everyone gave their all, everyone was brilliant in terms of work ethic and it’s something we’re gonna need going forward along with all the player’s qualities as well.”
Gallagher linked midfield and attack wonderfully against Arsenal and was named Man of the Match by our friends at FotMob.com and his impressive stats below show how influential he was in Chelsea’s best performance of the season. He is also Chelsea’s highest-rated player this season via FotMob.
A perfect fit
Gallagher has played in all nine of Chelsea’s game so far this season and it’s clear he sets the tone for the incredible tempo this new-look Chelsea side play with.
Asked about that fighting spirit which has always been a big part of his game, the England international admitted playing for this style of team under Pochettino suits him perfectly. He also loves proving himself as many believed he would leave Chelsea this summer.
“Yeah, I love it,” Gallagher said. “I think most times in my career I’ve had a point to prove and I love the challenge and I always want new challenges and targets to set myself so I just want to carry own what I’m doing now and help Chelsea climb up the table.”
With Chelsea spending so much money on players like Caicedo and Fernandez, it was widely reported that Gallagher would be sold to help fund Chelsea’s expensive summer overhaul. He stuck around and now he’s a key part of Pochettino’s Chelsea overhaul.
“I don’t think the money has anything to do with it. The manager picks his team and we have good relationship, he understands my game, he understands what I bring to the team and right now I think it’s really working so hopefully we can only get better,” Gallagher said.
