Conor Gallagher: From Doubts to Key Player for Tottenham

Conor Gallagher steps into the press room in Sydney with the easy stride of a player who has survived the storm and come out sharper on the other side.

A few months ago, sections of the Tottenham support were questioning why the club had bothered to bring him in from Atletico Madrid. On this tour of New Zealand and Australia, he looks and sounds like a man central to Roberto De Zerbi’s plans – and he knows exactly why.

A derby on the other side of the world

Tottenham’s pre-season ends with a fixture that feels anything but friendly. Chelsea, his old club, await at the Accor Stadium, where around 80,000 fans are expected for the first Spurs–Chelsea derby ever staged outside the UK.

“It’s amazing. I didn’t quite realise how popular Spurs are in Australia,” Gallagher says, still slightly taken aback by the scale of the welcome. Training sessions have drawn crowds. Shirts and scarves have followed the squad from city to city. “The fans have been incredible… Tomorrow will be really exciting for them and for us.”

For Gallagher, there’s an extra edge. A Chelsea academy product who made his name in blue, he now walks out in white against the club that shaped him. The backdrop is different – Sydney, not Stamford Bridge – but the emotion will be familiar.

From doubts to De Zerbi’s trust

When Gallagher arrived in January, the reaction from parts of the fanbase was lukewarm at best. His early performances did little to change minds. He looked short of rhythm, short of belief, a midfielder between ideas and roles.

Then De Zerbi walked through the door.

“Obviously, a big reason why I started to perform better was because of the gaffer coming in,” Gallagher explains. The Italian, who had admired him during their Premier League meetings when De Zerbi was at Brighton and Gallagher at Chelsea, made a point of reminding him of the player he once was. The player who pressed, drove, harried, arrived in the box with purpose.

“I wasn’t playing very well, but he knew what I can do… he knew what I had to do to improve and to get that belief back. That’s the main thing that has helped me.”

The turnaround was clear. Gallagher became an integral part of De Zerbi’s side in the run-in, scored a crucial goal away at Aston Villa and played his part in keeping Tottenham in the Premier League. The conversation around him shifted from “why is he here?” to “how do you get him out of this team?”

The No.10 who will play anywhere

Tottenham’s summer business has been bold, particularly in midfield. Two high-profile No.8s have arrived, adding quality and competition in the centre of the pitch. Gallagher, though, has increasingly been used further forward, operating as a No.10 at the end of last season and throughout this pre-season.

“To be honest, I’m happy to play anywhere the manager wants to play me,” he says. “The 10 or number eight in the double pivot, it’s fine. I enjoy playing anywhere in midfield.”

He does admit the advanced role plays into his instincts. “It’s nice to run forward and I can do what I do best and press well and try and lead from the front.” It suits his energy, his aggression, his willingness to chase lost causes and turn them into chances.

There is no illusion about what life at a club of Tottenham’s size demands. The new arrivals have only sharpened that reality.

“When you play for a club like Tottenham, if there’s not competition for a starting XI spot then something is wrong,” he says. “Obviously that’s what comes in playing for such a top club.” He repeats a theme that matters to him: the new signings are “great lads” as well as good players. The dressing room dynamic, he believes, is right.

A fresh start without forgetting the scars

Last season hurt. Tottenham flirted dangerously with disaster, and the strain showed on the pitch and in the stands. Gallagher lived it from the inside.

Now, the mood has flipped.

“Yes, it’s a lot more enjoyable,” he says of training. “Not being in the situation we were last season… it’s a fresh start, fresh players, faces, new way of playing and trying to get everyone on the same page.”

Pre-season, he stresses, has been about clarity: understanding exactly how De Zerbi wants this team to play, what is demanded with and without the ball. The players, he insists, have responded.

“Everyone’s so happy. We’ve had a great time in Australia. Training’s been great. The games have been good. Everyone’s in a great mood and we’re really looking forward to a big game tomorrow.”

It doesn’t feel like a completely new team – “there’s a lot of the same people, which is great” – but the reset is obvious. The scars of last season remain, yet they are being used as fuel.

“We went through a really tough season last season and we are so determined and hungry to improve as a team,” Gallagher says. “Everyone is really excited. It’s hopefully going to be a really good season for us.”

Confidence rebuilt, not borrowed

Given the way his Chelsea chapter ended, the question inevitably comes: did any of his lost confidence stem from that period?

“No,” comes the answer. For Gallagher, confidence is something more immediate, more physical than narrative. “Confidence can come and go in a game, but when you get a run at games and you’re playing well, you feel fit, you feel strong, you get confidence back and that’s the way it was.”

He talks about fitness with the same weight as tactics. Pre-season, he says, is “really important” for him. He wants to “push on” from his late-season form and “kick on” again. The words are simple, but the intent is clear: he sees this campaign as an opportunity to move from useful to indispensable.

He also hasn’t forgotten the manager who shaped his competitive edge in Spain. “Honestly, Diego is an amazing manager and what he’s done at Atletico is incredible,” Gallagher says of Diego Simeone. From Simeone, he took an understanding of intensity and standards. From De Zerbi, he has rediscovered freedom and belief. It’s a potent mix.

Setting the standard for the next wave

At 26, Gallagher is now in that awkward middle ground: young enough to remember being the kid in the dressing room, old enough to be watched by those very kids for cues.

“It’s weird because it only feels like you have a day when I was 18, 19 and in the same position,” he reflects. That memory drives how he behaves around the younger players now coming through at Spurs.

“I try and do what I can to set the standards on and off the pitch and show how professional you’ve got to be. I try and help them as much as I can.”

The words match the way he plays: high energy, high responsibility, no hiding.

Tonight in Sydney, under the lights and in front of a sold-out crowd, he faces the club that made him and the club that now believes in him. The tour ends here. His fight to own that No.10 role, in a crowded Tottenham midfield, is only just beginning.