Tottenham Hotspur spent a boat load of cash on center midfielder Conor Gallagher both in terms of his transfer fee to Atletico Madrid and his wages, but they still can't figure out the basics of his role in the team.
There is going to be a lot of tweaking in the final months of the 2025/26 Premier League season as new, interim manager Igor Tudor looks to pull off another one of his specialties and keep Spurs afloat in the English top flight.
Although Tottenham finished 17th in the league last season, they won the Europa League and were at no threat of relegation with how poor the three newly promoted sides were. That is not the case in the 2025/26 campaign, and after another 4-1 shellacking at the hands of their biggest rivals, Arsenal, Spurs are more worried than ever about the prospect of the dreaded drop.
Tottenham need a real role for Conor Gallgher
Compounding matters is that the only major signing Spurs made in the winter transfer window, Gallagher, has been downright poor. There have been brief glimpses of him showing signs of quality, namely against Manchester City when he assisted in a 2-2 draw with the title contenders, but, by and large, he's been awful and nowhere near the 200,000 pounds per week paid to him.
Gallagher was at his best at Chelsea as a No. 10, but rather than an actual creative playmaker, he was more of a bulldog 10 pressing defenders and causing havoc with his athleticism, scoring goals and assists on pure effort. And that role worked for him even better before that in the Premier League at a smaller club in Crystal Palace.
The thing is, Tottenham already have a much better No. 10 in terms of technique and even athleticism in Xavi Simons. And once James Maddison comes back, they will have two 10's better than him, too. Tottenham, then, signed Gallagher after the Rodrigo Bentancur injury to be a deep-lying midfielder, and with Lucas Bergvall now injured for weeks, Gallagher needs to be the box-to-box bulldog that he was when he was at his best in this league.
Tottenham still need to answer the question of what is the best way to unlock Gallagher's unique qualities. Spurs fans heard all day long from the pundits on their television about Gallagher's leadership skills and work rate, but that doesn't translate into success. Spurs need a plan to harness Gallagher's strengths and mitigate his weaknesses, otherwise he will be another failed transfer on the road to relegation.