Conor Gallagher: From Doubt to Driving Force at Tottenham

Conor Gallagher walked into the press room in Sydney with the easy stride of a player who finally feels like he belongs again.

A year ago, he was a problem to be solved. An expensive January signing from Atletico Madrid, struggling to convince a demanding Tottenham crowd that he was worth the outlay, and a long way from the all-action force Chelsea fans once knew. Now, on the eve of facing his old club in front of 80,000 people at Accor Stadium, he sounds like a man who has rediscovered his purpose.

A derby on the other side of the world

Tottenham’s tour of New Zealand and Australia ends with a first: a north London–west London derby played outside the UK, against a Chelsea side now led by Xabi Alonso. The setting is different, the stakes are friendly, but the noise will be very real.

“It's amazing. I didn't quite realise how popular Spurs are in Australia,” Gallagher admitted, still sounding slightly taken aback by the scale of it all. Training sessions have drawn crowds; tomorrow night will be a sell-out. “The fans have been incredible… Tomorrow will be really exciting for them and for us.”

For a club still trying to shake off the scars of a brutal season, this kind of backing matters. The players have felt it. Gallagher has felt it.

From doubt to driving force

When he arrived in January, the reaction from the stands was lukewarm at best. The performances matched. He looked like a midfielder stuck between ideas, between roles, between identities.

Then Roberto De Zerbi walked through the door.

The Italian didn’t just pick Gallagher; he restored him. He remembered the version he had faced so often in the Premier League when he was at Brighton and Gallagher was buzzing around midfields for Chelsea. He knew there was a player in there and treated him like one.

“Obviously, a big reason why I started to perform better was because of the gaffer coming in,” Gallagher said. “It gave me a bit of confidence back and physically I was feeling stronger.”

The impact showed. Gallagher became an integral part of De Zerbi’s side, pressing high, linking play, and scoring a crucial goal at Aston Villa in the run-in as Spurs clawed their way to safety. The midfielder who had arrived to scepticism ended the campaign as one of the reasons Tottenham remained in the Premier League.

The No.10 who will play anywhere

Pre-season has given a clearer glimpse of where De Zerbi sees him. Tottenham have invested heavily in two new No.8s, yet Gallagher has operated mostly as a No.10, both at the end of last season and during this tour.

“To be honest, I'm happy to play anywhere the manager wants to play me,” he said. “The 10 or number eight in the double pivot, it's fine. I enjoy playing anywhere in midfield. I've found myself in the 10 more often.”

That role suits the version of Gallagher Spurs now lean on: aggressive, front-foot, relentlessly energetic. “It's nice to run forward and I can do what I do best and press well and try and lead from the front.”

He won’t complain if the job description changes. He just wants to play, to build on a strong finish. “Pre-season is really important for me. I want to push on from that and kick on and hopefully help the club to a good season.”

Competition, character and a reset

Tottenham have not stood still. New faces have arrived, particularly in midfield, and with them the kind of competition that defines elite clubs.

“When you play for a club like Tottenham, if there's not competition for a starting XI spot then something is wrong,” Gallagher said. There was no hint of concern, only acceptance. “All the new signings are great lads… not just good footballers, which I think is really important to have the right characters and people with us. It's only going to make us stronger.”

The mood around the squad feels lighter. Last season’s grind has been replaced by a sense of renewal.

“It's a lot more enjoyable,” he said of training. “It's a fresh start, fresh players, faces, new way of playing and trying to get everyone on the same page to understand how we play and what the manager wants us to do.”

You can see it, he insists. “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 different team, he pointed out — many of the same core players remain — but it does feel like a reset. “It's just like a fresh kind of start and everyone's just very excited to make things better.”

Simeone, De Zerbi and the power of belief

Gallagher’s journey to this point has been shaped by two very different managers. Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid, all fire and structure and defensive ferocity. De Zerbi at Spurs, demanding but expressive, asking his players to be brave on the ball and relentless without it.

“Honestly, Diego is an amazing manager and what he's done at Atletico is incredible,” Gallagher said. The respect is obvious. But the theme that links his time under both is simpler: confidence.

“In football, confidence is a massive thing and every player needs to have confidence if you're going to perform well. That's what the gaffer realised with me,” he explained. De Zerbi knew the player he’d faced in England and refused to judge him on a poor run of form. “He thought I was a good player, so he knew what I had to do to improve and to get that belief back. That's the main thing that has helped me.”

Did the way things ended at Chelsea dent that belief? Gallagher shook that off. Confidence, he said, lives in the rhythm of playing, not in old headlines.

“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.”

Setting standards for the next wave

At 26, Gallagher now finds himself in a role that still feels slightly surreal to him: the example.

“It's weird because it only feels like you have a day when I was 18, 19 and in the same position,” he said. That memory shapes how he treats the younger players pushing into the squad.

“I completely understand where those boys are at and 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.”

He has lived the cycle: academy prospect, loanee, Chelsea hope, La Liga export, questioned signing, key man in a relegation fight. There is value in that experience for a dressing room trying to harden itself for what comes next.

Tomorrow night brings Chelsea, a familiar badge in an unfamiliar setting, and a crowd of 80,000 ready to turn a friendly into something louder. For Gallagher, it is another chance to prove that the player De Zerbi believed in is here to stay — and that Tottenham’s “fresh start” is more than just a slogan for a long, demanding season ahead.