Conor John Gallagher (born 6 February 2000) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and the England national team. Beginning his career with Chelsea, Gallagher spent time on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

at EFL Championship clubs

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

, Swansea City, and

clubs

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

and

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

, between 2019 and 2022. At Crystal Palace, Gallagher was named the club's

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

for the 2021–22 season. He subsequently made his first-team debut at Chelsea during the 2022–23 season. After representing England at various youth levels, Gallagher made his debut for the senior national team in November 2021.

Early and personal life

Gallagher was born in

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

, Surrey to Lee and Samantha Gallagher and is the youngest of their four sons. He grew up in

Great Bookham Great Bookham is a village in Surrey, England, one of six semi-urban spring line settlements between the towns of Leatherhead and Guildford. With the narrow strip parish of Little Bookham, it forms part of the Saxon settlement of ''Bocham'' ...

and attended Howard of Effingham School. His older brothers, Jake, Josh and

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoi ...

, are footballers at non-league level. Gallagher's family are

fans, and he lived a ten-minute drive from their training ground in Stoke d'Abernon.

Club career

Early career

After playing for Epsom Eagles, Gallagher joined Chelsea at the age of eight. In October 2018, he signed a new contract with Chelsea, contracting him to the club until June 2021. He had minor heart surgery that year. In May 2019, he was an unused substitute in the

2019 UEFA Europa League Final The 2019 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA E ...

, collecting a winner's medal. He was awarded Chelsea's Academy Player of the Year for the 2018–19 season.

2019–20 season: Loans to Charlton Athletic and Swansea City

In August 2019, Gallagher signed a new three-year contract with Chelsea and moved on

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

. After his first month with Charlton, in which he scored three goals in six matches, he won the

EFL Young Player of the Month The EFL Young Player of the Month is an award for young players in all three divisions of the English Football League. To be eligible players must be under-21 or turn 21 during the current season. It was first awarded in December 2009. Victor Mose ...

award for August. On 14 January 2020, Gallagher was recalled by Chelsea. On 15 January 2020, the day after leaving Charlton, Gallagher joined Championship club Swansea City on loan for the rest of the 2019–20 season. He later said that his time at Swansea allowed him to be more creative as a player.

2020–21 season: Loan to West Bromwich Albion

On 17 September 2020, Gallagher signed a new five-year contract with Chelsea, and joined fellow Premier League club

on loan for the 2020–21 season. On 28 November 2020, Gallagher scored his first Premier League goal and his first goal for West Brom in a 1–0 home league win over

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

2021–22 season: Loan to Crystal Palace

In July 2021, Gallagher joined

club

on loan for the 2021–22 season. He scored two goals in a 2–2 draw with

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

on 28 August 2021, his first goals for Palace. In November, Gallagher was subjected to homophobic chants from a group of

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

fans; the club issued a statement which condemned this. By the start of December, he had six goals and three assists for Crystal Palace, the most of any Premier League player aged 21 or under. On 15 April 2022, he was prevented by parent club Chelsea from playing against them in the FA Cup semi-final; Chelsea manager

Thomas Tuchel Thomas Tuchel (; born 29 August 1973) is a German professional football manager and former player who last managed Premier League club Chelsea. Born in Krumbach, Tuchel retired at age 25 after a chronic knee cartilage injury; in 2000, he b ...

apologised for doing so. Chelsea went on to defeat Palace 2–0. During his season with Palace, Gallagher was described by ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' as "one of the Premier League's most vibrant talents" and "a key player for Patrick Vieira", who was "thriving in his box-to-box role". For his performances with the club, he was later named Crystal Palace's Player of the Season.

2022–23 season: Return to Chelsea

In July 2022, ahead of the 2022–23 season, Gallagher said he was determined to make a first-team breakthrough at Chelsea. On 6 August 2022, he made his Chelsea debut, as a substitute, in a 1–0 away win against Everton in the Premier League. On 1 October, he scored his first goal for Chelsea, a 90th-minute winner in a 2–1 away victory over his former club, Crystal Palace.

International career

Gallagher's family heritage meant he was eligible to play for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

or the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

until he made a competitive appearance for any at senior level. He represented England at under-17, under-18, under-19 and under-20 youth levels, winning the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India. On 8 October 2019, Gallagher received his first call up to the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

squad and made his debut on 11 October as a substitute during a 2–2 draw against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

in Maribor. On 14 November 2021, he received his first call-up to the England senior squad. The following day, he earned his first cap, coming on as a half-time substitute in England's 10–0 win over

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

. He was named in England's squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Style of play

Gallagher has said his "best position is as a box-to-box midfielder ..I can play deeper and I can play attacking as well", and was described by

Lee Bowyer Lee David Bowyer (; born 3 January 1977) is an English football manager and former professional player. As a player, he was a midfielder who featured for Charlton Athletic, Leeds United, West Ham United (two spells), Newcastle United, Birming ...

, his manager at Charlton at the time, as "an all-round midfielder. His work-rate is unreal, he puts his foot in for tackles and he can also see a pass".

Patrick Vieira Patrick Vieira (born 23 June 1976) is a French professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Crystal Palace. He is widely considered as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation. Vieira began his career at ...

likened Gallagher's style of play to that of former players

Ray Parlour Raymond Parlour (born 7 March 1973) is an English former professional footballer and sports radio pundit for BBC Radio 5 Live and Talksport. He was a midfielder from 1992 to 2007, and spent his career playing for Arsenal, Middlesbrough and Hul ...

and

Frank Lampard Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Everton. He is widely regarded as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players, and one of the greatest midfielder ...

, who was Gallagher's idol while he was growing up.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Chelsea *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

: 2018–19 England U17 *

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

Individual * Chelsea Academy Player of the Year: 2018–19 *

: August 2019 *

Crystal Palace F.C. Player of the Year The Crystal Palace F.C., Crystal Palace Football Club Player of the Year is awarded at the end of each season. Since the inaugural award was made to John McCormick (footballer, born 1936), John McCormick in 1972, 37 players have won the award. Nin ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

Profile
at Chelsea F.C. website
Profile
at Football Association website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, Conor 2000 births Living people Sportspeople from Epsom Footballers from Surrey English footballers Association football midfielders Chelsea F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players England youth international footballers England under-21 international footballers England international footballers 2022 FIFA World Cup players English people of Irish descent English people of Scottish descent