West Brom in talks with midfielder who Leeds want to sign – reports
West Brom are in talks with Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher as they aim to sign the midfielder on loan, according to Guardian journalist Jacob Steinberg.
Gallagher, 20, spent last season on loan at Charlton and Swansea, where he amassed six goals and 11 assists in 47 appearances across both spells.
It now seems that Premier League interest in Gallagher is mounting with West Brom and Leeds United both in the hunt to sign him, with Steinberg’s colleague at The Guardian, Ed Aarons, reporting that the Yorkshire club also want the England Under-21 midfielder.
Gallagher would add a great deal of depth to West Brom’s central midfield options with the Chelsea youngster able to play in both deep and attacking roles.
Below is a heatmap [via WyScout] which shows where Gallagher played last season at both Charlton and Swansea.
As you can see, he played mainly in an attacking role on the left-hand side but he can also move to the right and drop deeper and more central if needed.
Since the end of last season, Albion have seen Chris Brunt and Gareth Barry leave The Hawthorns, which has put a dent in Slaven Bilic’s central midfield options.
Filip Krovinovic has gone back to Benfica and while talks are still in progress about re-signing him, it would not hurt to add someone to the spine of Bilic’s team.
Gallagher showed last season that he can score goals and create them.
He played a key role in helping Swansea reach the Championship play-offs and can, hopefully, prove vital to West Brom’s bid to avoid relegation if he heads to The Hawthorns on loan before the transfer window closes.
In other West Brom news, we’ve revealed that this pre-season friendly is not taking place on Tuesday night despite online rumours.
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