Summary Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou is prioritising the signing of Chelsea's Conor Gallagher to strengthen the team's midfield. Chelsea have placed a high price tag of £80m on Gallagher, but Tottenham are set to mount a last-minute bid for the player. Gallagher's versatility and impressive statistics make him an ideal fit for Tottenham's midfield, particularly alongside Rodrigo Bentancur.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou made it clear that he required fresh faces across the park this month after an excellent start to life in north London was inhibited by a lack of depth.
Still, Tottenham are currently fifth-placed in the Premier League and are only three points behind Arsenal and Aston Villa in the top four, but injuries to numerous key players had laid waste to a stunning start to the season that placed the club in pole position after ten fixtures.
Signing a central defender was Postecoglou's priority heading into the winter market and the £27m capture of Genoa's Radu Dragusin has provided the perfect addition to a formidable starting axis of Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero.
Versatile forward Timo Werner has also been brought in on a loan deal (with a buy option for around £15m at the end of the season), but with Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr both competing at the Africa Cup of Nations right now, a centre-midfielder is still coveted – and don't bet against a last-gasp swoop.
Spurs eyeing late swoop for midfielder
Back in August, Tottenham were rejected on deadline day after presenting Chelsea with a £40m offer for Conor Gallagher, with Postecoglou looking to bulk out his outfit with high-class talent.
Gallagher indeed stayed put and has since bloomed into one of the Blues' most important players, but he's out of contract in 2025 and Spurs have been fighting for his signature all month, with Football Insider now revealing that a stunning last-gasp bid is being mounted.
That said, the report stresses that Chelsea have sought to dissuade any efforts from their London rivals by placing a staggering £80m price tag on the player.
Why Tottenham are interested in Conor Gallagher
Tottenham have held an interest in Kalvin Phillips this month but were unwilling to pay Manchester City's £6m loan fee, and the England international has now completed a short-term move to West Ham United.
With this in mind, the path is now clear for Tottenham to move for Gallagher with their alternative target headed elsewhere, and Postecoglou will be desperate to secure his services.
This season, as per Sofascore, Gallagher has completed 20 appearances in the Premier League and supplied four assists, completing 91% of his passes, succeeding with 77% of his dribbles, as well as averaging 1.4 key passes and interceptions, 2.7 tackles and 6.9 ball recoveries per fixture, leading to being praised as a “monster” midfielder by one analyst.
A rounded, robust and technically sublime player, the 23-year-old ranks among the top 20% of midfielders across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for pass completion, the top 21% for progressive carries, the top 11% for touches in the attacking box, the top 18% for tackles and the top 4% for blocks per 90, as per FBref.
And such performances throughout his Premier League career have not gone unnoticed, with The Athletic's Mike Stavrou detailing the tenacious approach that makes him a manager's dream – ever impactful, always seeking to make an impression.
The journalist said: "Conor Gallagher was absolutely relentless with his pressing and energy tonight. Some player Chelsea have got."
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Player
Club
1.
Rodrigo Bentancur
Tottenham Hotspur
2.
Lucas Paqueta
West Ham United
3.
Boubacar Kamara
Aston Villa
4.
Tomas Soucek
West Ham United
5.
Joao Palhinha
Fulham
Source: Football Transfers
The table above might appear somewhat confusing at a glance, with Lucas Paqueta and Joao Palhinha almost diametrically opposed as central midfielders.
But what it does is illuminate Gallagher's multi-functionality and ability to perform various roles to great effect in the Chelsea engine room. The England international has been crisp and creative with his passing this season, sure, but he's also resilient and commanding in his defensive duties.
It's little wonder that Tottenham hold a vested interest in his signature, especially considering that Rodrigo Bentancur is considered his most comparable player on English shores.
Imagine Conor Gallagher & Rodrigo Bentancur
Heralded as a "Rolls-Royce" in the centre of the park by football writer Tom Robinson, Bentancur was excellent last season and scored five goals and supplied two assists from 18 Premier League starts during the 2022/23 term before picking up an ACL injury against Leicester City last February.
That issue was the beginning of an interminable spell on the sidelines, and while the £75k-per-week star returned to action with three cameos earlier in the current campaign, a brutish challenge from Matty Cash back in November cast him back toward the medical room once again.
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The Uruguayan ace mirrors Gallagher in that he blends a wealth of responsibilities without seam, having been proclaimed to be "technically immense" by broadcaster Adam Smith.
Now recovered from injuries, Bentancur has started 2024 on the front foot, and, albeit with some rustiness, is starting to acclimatise to life under Postecoglou's wing, playing an instrumental role in the impressive 2-2 draw at Old Trafford last time out in the Premier League.
If the 26-year-old can rekindle his fitness and best form over the next few months, Tottenham will be in a far better position to realise their goals and secure Champions League qualification.
And with Gallagher beside him, a tremendous level of fluency could be found in the centre of the park, with both players interchanging and providing balanced skill sets to enhance Tottenham's team and take it to the next stage in its development.
Last season, Bentancur complemented his direct return with an average of 2.5 tackles per game and success with 66% of his dribbles.
The similarities between the players are certainly there and given that Bentancur has displayed signs of thriving in Posteocoglou's side, there is no reason why Gallagher couldn't bolster the fold and enhance it into something capable of securing silver-laden success.