It is often said that British players have a hard time exporting themselves… And it is true that if we put aside a few cases like Jude Bellingham or Jadon Sancho, English players who shine away from the United Kingdom are quite rare. It is therefore partly for this reason that when Atlético de Madrid enlisted Conor Gallagher this summer, at the end of a particularly long saga which saw the player make several trips back and forth between London and Madrid, some had doubts.
Would the Chelsea player be able to adapt to La Liga? Would he find his place in Diego Simeone’s system? For the Argentinian in any case, there was very little doubt, since he pushed hard for his management to go all the way and recruit the Three Lions player. And from what we see at the start of this season, the Argentinian tactician was right to push.
Express adaptation
Against Rayo on Sunday night (1-1), the Colchoneros’ number 4 once again produced a very good performance, having also scored the only goal for the Rojiblancos, his second in four appearances in La Liga. It’s hard to say whether he’s already an undisputed starter in the eyes of his coach, who rotates a lot in each match and has a lot of solutions in midfield, with Koke, Rodrigo de Paul, Pablo Barrios, Griezmann when he’s used deeper or Marcos Llorente, sometimes used as a right piston and sometimes as a relay. But one thing is certain, he adapted very quickly and understood very well what Simeone was asking of him. Which is quite rare, since generally at Atlético, new arrivals take time to get into the swing of things.
A very versatile player with a high volume of play, he does a lot of defensive work in midfield, while being able to make a difference with the ball at his feet thanks to his technical quality. He also likes to project himself forward, coming to lend a hand to the attackers by creating an excess of numbers in the area. “He won over all the fans in one month”indicates the daily ASwhich highlights the Englishman’s more than encouraging start to the season under Simeone. Along with Robin Le Normand, he is clearly the most successful Colchonero player to arrive this summer, while waiting for Alexander Sorloth and Julian Alvarez to pick up the pace…
