Chelsea’s loaned-out midfielder Conor Gallagher has been urged to avoid repeating the mistake made by Jesse Lingard, who returned to Manchester United after a successful loan spell at West Ham last season.
Former England manager Sam Allardyce believes Lingard made the wrong choice to move back to Old Trafford, and he has warned Gallagher that he could do well to look at that when he weighs up whether or not to go back to parent club Chelsea after his superb form on loan at Crystal Palace this season.
The 21-year-old looks a terrific prospect and is really making the most of the opportunity to play regularly under Patrick Vieira at Selhurst Park.
This loan has clearly been good for Gallagher’s development, but it remains to be seen if it could even end up being more than just a stepping stone for him.
We often see players rushing to try to break in at bigger clubs, but Gallagher does look like he could learn from Lingard’s current situation in order to avoid just going back to Chelsea to sit on the bench.
“I’d want to come back and give it a go (at Chelsea) and I think on his form at the moment and you have to bear in mind now he made his England debut, he’s an England international,” Allardyce told talkSPORT.
“He would want to go back and try and get in the team but I think if you do that, you’ve got to play enough first team games because if you don’t you can easily fall backwards like Jesse Lingard.
“Staying at Man United I think has been a bad choice for him because he’s not been selected.
“While at West Ham he was one of the best goalscoring midfield players in the Premier League in his time there now he’s sitting on the bench at Man United.
“So you have to be very careful on your choices at the right time and if you’re playing as much football as Conor’s playing now, and enjoying it more than ever with Palace then you want to continue that.
“If that’s not at Chelsea it can certainly be somewhere else in the Premier League I’m sure.”