Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher continues to impress at Crystal Palace despite his injury setbacks as a youth player.
Carefree Chelsea’s Jai Mcintosh (JM) spoke to Editor Scott Clayton (SC) and Football London’s Crystal Palace writer Mark Wyatt (MW) about the players' progression under Patrick Viera at Palace.
JM: “The current crop of exciting players that Palace have. Which one stands out to you as the leader of the pack, excluding Zaha?"
MW: “It’s interesting you can’t talk about Crystal Palace the last three, four, years further back without talking about Wilfried Zaha. But, this year for the first time in a while some of that attacking responsibility isn’t as much on his shoulders.
“Conor Gallagher has been a real sensation at Crystal Palace. For the months of August and September which says a lot about it. But, it’s just not his performances individually. It’s how he’s making a team play better around him. It’s been a joy to watch from the sidelines.
“I know a lot of Crystal Palace fans have been absolutely blown over by him and his performances. So, if you are looking at one player who has made that massive impact this season it’s difficult not to pick Conor."
JM: “Scott, are you surprised to see Conor perform at a consistent level in the Premier League when watching him at youth level, is this exactly where you thought he would be?”
SC: “I’m kind of in the middle. Some of what he’s doing is expected. He’s shown us some good glimpses. He has a rocky time having problems with his heart and things like that. I started to question what his future would be like.
“He went to league one and I thought that’s a bit of a low step for him. He proved that six months later when he was in the Championship. Last season I was a little bit disappointed in him. But, that was mainly because of the choice of the loan they picked.
“He wasn’t playing his game, what makes him Conor Gallagher. He was taking the great traits that he had out of his game. He was used more like a double six, pivot kind of pass the ball back and press and he’s good at that.
“But, what I’ve seen with him at Crystal Palace is what I like to see with him. This season he’s made me surprised at how well he’s doing and that’s a good thing because I like to be impressed by every loan they go on. That’s what they’ve got to do and prove themselves every time they’re on loan.
“Otherwise they get lost in a loan cycle. He’s doing everything he can to say look at me. Doing well for the under-21’s England team.”
What do you make of Conor Gallagher’s performance so far, this season? Follow our Carefree Chelsea members Scott, Jai, Mark and Renuka on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
