Tottenham Hotspur center midfielder Conor Gallagher joined the club in the January transfer window on a transfer fee worth 40 million euros with wages comparatively even higher to his peers, and while fans were not at all impressed with his first half season at N17, he proved to be a capable option by the end of the 2025/26 Premier League campaign once Roberto De Zerbi arrived.
Telling the story of Spurs survival in the English top flight would be incomplete without praising Gallagher, whose veteran guile and work rate were crucial, and as Tottenham fans reflect on the last season, it appears a more fair readjustment of Gallagher is warranted.
There were so many players who were terrible under Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor last season, including players who are normally exceptional. Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro are two of the best in the Premier League, but they looked like they had lost the will to play the sport under Frank and Tudor. Meanwhile, Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha went from being tremendous liabilities to arguably the two best players of the relegation fight once a more competent manager came in.
Thomas Frank made Conor Gallagher suffer, too
So the biggest reason for Tottenham Hotspur fans to believe in Conor Gallagher is the same reason why many of Spurs most key players rebounded, and it is telling that Gallagher was also among those to improve markedly with Roberto De Zerbi's arrival.
The upgrade from Thomas Frank to De Zerbi is a big deal for Gallagher, too, and it is also no secret that RDZ is a huge fan of the former Chelsea and Crystal Palace center midfielder. Gallagher, a favorite of Mauricio Pochettino's at Stamford Bridge, has been quite productive in the Premier League in the past, and while he probably isn't worth the wages or the fee and should not be starting every week for Spurs, he can still prove to be a useful role player for Tottenham.
Spurs fans also should not let his issues at Chelsea and Atletico Madrid cloud their judgment of him. It's not like these two clubs are exactly tearing it up in world football over the past couple of years, and their own evaluation and development of players has been pretty atrocious. With De Zerbi, there is a new leaf turned, and not enough people are talking about how Gallagher is in a similar bucket to Pedro Porro and Micky van de Ven in terms of suffering badly under Frank.
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