Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira has listed some of Conor Gallagher’s strengths after revealing he has been in regular talks with Chelsea legend Claude Makelele about the midfielder.
Gallagher is currently on loan at Crystal Palace from the Blues, where former midfielder Makelele is employed to act as a bridge between Chelsea and their many loan players.
As part of that role, the Frenchman regularly speaks with compatriot and Eagles manager Vieira about Gallagher, who has been one of the standout players in Palace’s season so far.
The 22-year-old is the club’s leading scorer for the campaign with seven goals in all competitions and the second-highest assist provider with five.
He’s also only one of five players to have started in at least 20 of Palace’s games so far this season and earned his first senior England call-up in November where he played against San Marino.
"He just wants to play games," Vieira told football.london on Friday.
"I speak a lot with Claude Makelele at Chelsea and the way that he talks about Conor and the way that his players want to improve and the energy that he has allows him to perform every week.
"He wants to play and one of his strengths is the way he recovers from game after game. He is one of the players that recovers well after the game, so that allows him to play straightaway a couple of days after.
"So when you are young, there's no reason why you can't keep playing games."
Gallagher’s most impressive moments this season have been when he’s directly involved in getting goals - whether that be his long-range strike against Everton, his close-range double against West Ham or the skilful assist he put on a plate for Christian Benteke at Burnley.
But he’s also been an effective player on the defensive side of the game, winning the ball back high up the pitch and chasing down opposition players with boundless energy.
He has the second-most pressures in the Premier League this season (465) as well as the second-most fouls (50), proving he’s not afraid to get stuck in at both ends of the pitch.
"His strengths are running behind and stretching opposition teams," added Vieira.
"And what is good for us always as a midfielder is having more players inside the box, and he is always finding the energy to get in a really dangerous area that allows us to have more bodies, and to take more chances as well. He is an important player.
"Outside of his energy it’s about this kind of responsibility that he has for the defensive transition.
"He is somebody who can win the ball, he is somebody who can press the opposition team and he's been doing quite really well and he's improving as a player."
