Tottenham Hotspur blew more money than they needed to in order to sign Conor Gallagher from under the noses of Aston Villa, and, perhaps, the impetus for signing the English No. 8 came from a sudden, multi month injury to veteran center midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur.
Well, Bentancur is still out, and while he was no great shakes for Tottenham when he was healthy and had actually lost his starting job to Archie Gray early in the season, at least he was a competent backup. The same cannot be said for Gallagher.
Facing his former team in the Champions League Round of 16, Gallagher only proved why Atletico Madrid were so eager to get rid of him in not just the last winter transfer window when he did move to Spurs, but also in the preceding two transfer windows.
Conor Gallagher failed against Atletico Madrid
Gallagher was dreadful. He failed to progress the ball or show any creativity, which is a recurring theme for him. People talk about his effort, but effort counts for very little when that effort is not put to use. Even in terms of winning the ball or carrying it, Gallagher's overall impact on the game is minimal, and despite running quite a bit, the overall effect on the running is equivalent to him being a passenger in the game.
Tottenham had nothing to lose with a big deficit in the second half, yet even with that unburdening them, Gallagher still did not provide any sort of verve to drive the ball forward. He shows no risk of initiative with his passing, which is actually an even bigger step backwards from what he was doing previously in the Premier League for both Crystal Palace and even Chelsea.
Rodrigo Bentancur had a similar issue of not being creative or brave enough with his passing, but even he did create at least something for Spurs to sink their teeth into and was a better screening defender. Gallagher's running ends up leaving more gaps in the Tottenham midfield, so the movement is not necessarily beneficial.
All told, with each passing week Gallagher starts and struggles for Tottenham Hotspur, the fans are more wistful for Bentancur and want him back from his injury, even thouguh they used to be sick of him in the midfield. That speaks volumes to how unimpressed they are with Gallagher and how little confidence they have in him to improve, since he isn't exactly a high upside investment.