Conor Gallagher has only been at Tottenham Hotspur for just over nine months and he already feels like a club stalwart. After Spurs signed 10 new first-team players this summer, a more profound reset than most clubs will ever undertake, anyone who played under Igor Tudor, never mind Thomas Frank, starts to look like a veteran.
When Gallagher arrived in January from Atletico Madrid, he was seen as a much-needed midfield reinforcement, even if his arrival was by itself insufficient for the problems that Spurs faced. He turned out to be integral to Roberto De Zerbi’s survival mission. His 25-yard opener at Villa Park in May is still one of Spurs’ most important goals of the modern era.
But this is a fresh start for Spurs and competition for places is fiercer than ever. The specifics of Tottenham’s squad construction — and the injury crises they have faced in recent years — gives them more options than they need in certain areas. This means that players like Gallagher have to earn their place in the team all over again.
Tottenham spent more heavily in midfield than anywhere else this summer, signing Sandro Tonali in a deal that could reach £100million ($133m) from Newcastle United, and Mateus Fernandes from West Ham United for £85m. The Portugal international has often been the most attacking of De Zerbi’s three midfielders, in a role closest to the one Gallagher had last season. And yet Fernandes has never looked fully comfortable pushed so far forward, and it often appears as if he would prefer to be dominating from deep, effectively the role that Tonali has seized for himself.

There is competition, too, from established players who are returning from injury. De Zerbi sees Mohamed Kudus as an option at 10 but he has not started there yet this season, only filling in from the bench. James Maddison made his first start in 17 months on Monday, scoring a brilliant opener against Coventry City, while Dejan Kulusevski, who came on in the same game, could also play there. Xavi Simons, who shone there at times last season, is working hard to recover from the ACL injury he sustained in April.

That is even before we get to the younger players like Luca Williams-Barnett, one of the most talented youngsters Spurs have produced in years, who looks good enough to play for the first team even if he has not had the opportunity to do that much yet.
But with so many options in that role, Gallagher has to make the case for himself all over again. It is only natural that some fans might prefer a more expressive, more creative, more fantastical player in that role, rather than someone whose biggest strengths are his industrious selflessness.
And yet Gallagher has worked hard enough this season so far to remind the world that he can bring things to that role no one else can. De Zerbi has certainly not forgotten. Last season, when Gallagher was trying to drag Spurs to safety, De Zerbi said that when Gallagher was playing well, it felt that Spurs were “playing with 12 players”. He started all seven of De Zerbi’s games last season, generally as an energetic high-pressing No 10. Gallagher revealed in a recent official club interview that De Zerbi calls him the “pitbull”.
So even though Spurs started this season with new options in midfield, Gallagher has still been an integral part of the team, often alternating with new signing Fernandes as the 10. He was preferred for the trip to the City Ground on September 5, De Zerbi speaking about the importance of Gallagher’s superior experience of English conditions. Gallagher’s header kept Spurs in the game in the League Cup tie at Anfield — ending a club scoring drought of almost six hours in doing so — and he bundled in their first in the defeat to Aston Villa.

But Gallagher’s most important performance of this season came at Old Trafford on 10 October. There was some surprise when he was brought back into midfield for that game but his physical energy, along with Lucas Bergvall, was integral in Spurs’ best performance of the season to date. Gallagher and Bergvall dominated the middle of the pitch, winning every single loose ball and 50-50, pressing United into mistake after mistake. With more luck in front of goal, it could have been an emphatic win, with Gallagher at the heart of it.

Gallagher impressed during Tottenham’s draw at Manchester United.

It was understandable that De Zerbi brought back Maddison on Monday night, given that Spurs were always going to dominate the ball. They needed some extra quality from just outside the box, and that is exactly what Maddison provided when he whipped Spurs into the lead. But Gallagher had an important role of his own in that win. Tottenham were flagging with 20 minutes left and needed some extra energy so they did not get pinned back. Gallagher came on for Maddison and was busy enough to get Spurs back up the pitch, and still driving forward on the counter.
So when Spurs go to Stamford Bridge this Saturday — traditionally one of their hardest games in any season — it would be no surprise to see Gallagher back in the team. Not just because this is the ground where he made his name, before he had to join Atletico Madrid in 2024, potentially providing him with an extra edge. But simply because, for games where Tottenham will not dominate the ball, having someone who can put the opposition’s best players under pressure, to put them on the back foot, makes perfect sense.
Throughout Gallagher’s career, all the way back to the Chelsea days, he has had to constantly justify his place.
“In my career I was always in a situation where I was having to prove to loads of people that I was good enough,” he said in his recent club interview. “At Chelsea I wasn’t one of the favourites, so I knew I had to work harder than everyone else. That brings the best out of me.”
De Zerbi will be hoping the same dynamic works in Spurs’ favour now.