Thomas Tuchel sounded out a major hint that Chelsea’s high-flying loanee Conor Gallagher will fight for a starting spot next season at Stamford Bridge.
The 21-year-old has proven to be a fantastic piece of transfer business for Crystal Palace who landed his signature from the Blues in the summer window on a season-long loan agreement.
With six goals and three assists to his name so far in this campaign, Gallagher has earned rave reviews for his displays in the final of the pitch for the Selhurst Park outfit with a return to the Chelsea ranks next summer on the cards for the promising talent.
Despite the talk of Chelsea planning to offload the player on a permanent basis to Palace, Thomas Tuchel shot down rumours suggesting Gallagher had no future with the Champions League holders beyond the current campaign.
The Chelsea manager admitted loaning out Gallagher in the summer was a decision made owing to the heavy competition in the midfield department but hinted that the in-form youngster had a part to play for his parent club next season, according to reports from Metro.
‘We love Conor. We are convinced about him.’
‘We took the decision for Conor because when we looked at the midfield – Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho, N’Golo Kante – he was considered number four in the group.
‘Conor knew this all the way. An opportunity came up where he could clearly see more minutes and more responsibility.
‘Would he be the same Conor if he had stayed here? Obviously not, because the situation will then be different.
‘Maybe, then, the same people would say, ‘How can they rely on Conor Gallagher’?, or ‘Why don’t they give him more minutes’?
‘If Mateo hadn’t been injured, it wouldn’t really matter. So, no, you cannot go back to these decisions that are made for the club and for the player. Everybody agreed on it.
‘And it’s obviously a good decision because he is doing so well and everybody is happy. That’s because he plays every single game, and knows how important he is to the team at Crystal Palace. This is a huge part of being at the best level you can be.’
