Chelsea's Conor Gallagher opts for Swansea spell under former England U17s coach Steve Cooper following Charlton recall
The highly sought-after Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher will sign for Swansea City on loan, following Liverpool’s Rhian Brewster and his Chelsea team-mate Marc Guehi in teaming up once more with their former England Under-17s coach Steve Cooper.
Gallagher, 19, recalled on Tuesday by Chelsea from his successful loan spell with Charlton Athletic, will sign for Swansea on Wednesday, where he will play for the Championship side managed by Cooper until the end of the season. He joins Brewster and Guehi, all three part of the England Under-17 squad whom Cooper led to their age-group World Cup victory in India in 2017.
There was interest in Gallagher from a collection of Championship clubs, including West Bromwich Albion, who have all taken notice of a player who had become a regular at Charlton this season, playing 26 games for Lee Bowyer’s side. An attacking midfielder who likes to get forward and has scored six goals already this season in the division, he is yet another impressive graduate of Neil Bath’s Cobham programme.
Although Gallagher was a favourite at the Valley, Chelsea’s loan department philosophy is to push players at all times to challenge themselves as they develop their professional careers. While the newly-promoted Charlton have reached a respectable 19th place in the Championship they are not challenging for the play-offs. The view at Chelsea has been that their players are best served playing in sides that are in contention for the promotion and play-off places.
That was the experience last year with Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori, both of whom were in the Derby County side under Frank Lampard and Jody Morris who reached the play-off final. Gallagher was free to choose and his connection with Cooper - well-regarded by that young group of players with whom he won the World Cup in 2017 - was a decisive factor in electing to join Swansea.
Cooper has taken Swansea to seventh place on a limited budget at Swansea. Having got them in contention for promotion he has been able to convince three of the Premier League’s best development players to come to Swansea this month. There was also interest in Gallagher from Burnley and Norwich City in the Premier League as well as Bristol City and Queen’s Park Rangers in the Championship.
