Conor Gallagher has insisted he is relishing the increased competition for places in Chelsea’s midfield this season.
The England international was heavily linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge during the summer, with 90min reporting in August that Chelsea were open to selling the midfielder if an offer of around £50m arrived.
Despite interest from Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich, Brighton and Hove Albion, Newcastle United and West Ham United, no transfer materialised and Gallagher stayed put.
Since then, despite the signings of Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia for mega money over the summer, Gallagher has become a key player under new manager Mauricio Pochettino. He has started all nine of Chelsea’s Premier League games thus far and even taken the captain’s armband on occasion.
Gallagher skippered the side again on Saturday and put in a very impressive performance in the 2-2 draw with London rivals Arsenal.
Speaking to the Evening Standard after the game, Gallagher was asked if he enjoys the extra competition for places at Chelsea this season.
He said: “Yeah, I love it. I think most times in my career I’ve had a point to prove and I love the challenge and I always want new challenges and targets to set myself, so I just want to carry on what I’m doing now and help Chelsea climb up the table.
“The manager picks his team and we have good relationship, he understands my game, he understands what I bring to the team and right now I think it’s really working, so hopefully we can only get better.
“It is really important to have that fighting spirit as well and I think I try to bring that to the team. I always work as hard as I can and I try and rub that off on the other players as well.
“You could see that because everyone gave their all, everyone was brilliant in terms of work ethic and it’s something we’re going to need going forward along with all the players’ qualities as well.”
With captain Reece James and vice-captain Ben Chilwell out of action, Gallagher is set to continue as the club’s captain for their upcoming clash with Brentford on Saturday.
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