Tuchel reveals plans for early-season wonder Conor Gallagher

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has lauded the impact of on-loan Chelsea midfielder, Conor Gallagher, at Premier League club, Crystal Palace. According to the German manager, it has not been difficult to follow up on the 21-year-old, as he is standing out in every match.

Gallagher has played 850 minutes for Crystal Palace this season, chipping in with three goals and two assists in ten matches. He had a hand in both goals last weekend, assisting Wilfred Zaha's first and scoring the second, as the Eagles recorded a surprising 2-0 victory over Manchester City.

On Gallagher's early-season form, Tuchel told the Blues' official website: "It’s not hard to follow him because he’s standing out every single match. All the credit to him. We had long talks in pre-season. We could imagine he stays and fights for his place here. We decided all together when the talks came up with Patrick Vieira to go to Crystal Palace."

The Chelsea manager confirmed that it was Gallagher's choice to link up with Crystal Palace on loan, as it seemed like the right thing to do.

"Once he understood the role he could have in the club and here in the Premier League, he wanted to take the challenge. Everybody agreed on it. We thought this would be the right thing to do. You need a bit of luck and a lot of quality. Conor’s heart is so big. He loves football. You could wake him up at 4 o’clock at night and he will start running and sprinting, and collecting balls and winning duels. This is what he does," the boss said.

Tuchel also confirmed that he has no plans of recalling Gallagher early to rejoin the first team set-up at Chelsea, insisting that it is best for the England U-21 international to remain at Crystal Palace where he is already an important member of the squad.

"You can see he feels good. He has the support of the club and manager, but honestly right now it’s the beginning of November, and he’s an important member of the Crystal Palace squad. It’s good where he is. There is no need to change this. We are fully aware of it and we are happy he feels so good and is such a huge part of the club," Tuchel said.

Chelsea are, at the moment, spoilt for choice in midfield with the addition of Saul Niguez over the summer and the renewed form and relevance of academy product Ruben Loftus-Cheek.